The Discovery of Antibiotics

Many medically useful antibiotics are first discovered by putting bacteria in a culture dish with molds or fungi to see whether the mold or fungus kills the bacteria or slows its growth. But finding dead bacteria on a lab dish may not necessarily mean that a useful drug is being produced. Today, most of the clinically useful antibiotics 

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The discovery and production of antibiotics has been of tremendous importance to human and animal health care. Prior to their discovery about half a century ago, many bacterial infections caused debilitating diseases and fatalities were high. The discovery of antibiotics was a major step in the treatment of infectious diseases, especially those caused by bacteria. Today about 50,000 tonnes of antibiotics are produced annually. About a third of this consists of penicillins, whilst tetracyclines make up about a quarter of the market. 

Every few decades a medical innovation is perfected that profoundly influences the practice of medicine. Widespreadvaccinationagainstcommoninfectious agents and the discovery of antibiotics serve as two such examples. Many scientists now believe that the potential of nucleic-acid- and cell-based technologies rivals even the most significant medical advances achieved to date. 

Millions of people died of infection before the discovery of antibiotics. During the early twentieth century and before, infectious diseases were cured by using potions and plant extracts. Patients were quarantined to keep the infections from spreading. At first, several scientists started their research by keeping records of the infectious diseases. As a result of this work, pioneers like Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur, and Robert Koch have proven the existence of microbes and the way they are responsible for infections. Their use of disinfectants, antitoxins, vaccination and anti-infectives laid the foundation for modern day therapy of infectious diseases. 

The discovery of antibiotics has had a major medical impact. Between 1900 and 1996, U.S. death rates due to infection dropped... 

Until the discovery of antibiotic substances, apiose and hamamelose were the only branched-chain sugars that had been found in Nature. The composition of both sugars in aqueous solution has been determined, and it is typical of the effect of branching on the stability of pyranose and furanose forms,... 

A number of both naturally occurring and synthetic polyhydroxy aminocyclopentanes and -cyclohexanes have been found to be powerful inhibitors of glycosidases (29). The discovery of antibiotic and antitumor... 

There is no doubt about the successful chemical syntheses of the glycan cell-wall components, and these approaches could be further applied to synthetic and biological studies on this area. After the discovery of antibiotics targeting the cell-wall biosynthesis, it became possible to control previously serious pathogenic bacteria, although... 

The only time that surrogate markers are of no value is in the discovery of antibiotics and antivirals, where with PCR to amplify the bacterial or viral nucleic acids within a few hours, one knows directly whether the antibiotic or antiviral drug works it kills microbes or stops their division, or it does not work. Hence, antibiotics almost never fail on efficacy, but their nasty side effects may yet stop for them or limit the dose patients tolerate therefore, they might not show efficacy because the dose cannot be achieved that would kill the microbes. 

Of course, breakthrough innovations generate tremendous value for customers and for the business. The discovery of antibiotics, the printing press, gun powder, airplanes, portable computers, and the World Wide Web are all examples of breakthrough innovation. 

Finally, let me quote a few sentences from an editorial (2) in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, entitled "Use and Misuse of Antibiotics. After stressing the dramatic benefits which followed the discovery of antibiotics, the editorial goes on to say ... 

These considerations illustrate why an absolute cure for cancer is so elusive, for there are so many partially offsetting factors that are not fully understood. This is why a cure may probably have to precede understanding, and be a happenstance, an exercise in serendipity, like the discovery of antibiotics. (If we had waited until we completely understood the action of antibiotics, we would still be waiting, for a subject is never closed. Each answer leads to another question.) And this is why the aborigines of Amazonia, say, are just as likely as modem medicine to have a cure, if not more likely. 

In the October 2005 issue of the Townsend Letter for Doctors Patients, a letter from Wayne Martin addresses the use of intravenous dilute hydrochloric acid solutions as a defense against bacterial infections. He cites many letters from doctors that appeared in the journal Medical World between 1932 and 1935. The successes were such that Martin now thinks that the discovery of antibiotics would not have been necessary. He describes the dramatic recovery of a young patient as reported... 

One of the most profound developments in the history of modem medicine has been the discovery of antibiotics to control infections. The realization that microbial products could cure infectious diseases spanned approximately sixty-five years of discoveries (8). One of the first modem scientific demonstrations was the observation by Louis Pasteur in 1877 that common bacteria inhibited the growth of a pure anthrax culture. Other observations followed. Then in 1928 it was noted by Alexander Fleming that a culture of a green inhibited the growth of bacteria on an agar plate... 

With the discovery of antibiotics, it became possible for the first time to set up a defence against the causes of this disease. In 1943, Selman A. Waksman discovered streptomycin, an active ingredient of the mould Streptomyces griseus this shows exceptionally good artivity against the tuberculosis-causing bacteria, and its use provided the means to combat the disease. 

Since the discovery of antibiotics, it has been possible to avoid contamination with bacteria. However,... 

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