Editing Alexander Fleming (section)

== Myths ==

=== The Fleming myth ===
By 1942, penicillin, produced as pure compound, was still in short supply and not available for clinical use. When Fleming used the first few samples prepared by the Oxford team to treat Harry Lambert who had streptococcal meningitis,<ref name=":4">{{cite journal|last1=Bennett|first1=Joan W.|title=Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin|date=2001|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0065216401490137|journal=Advances in Applied Microbiology|volume=49|pages=163–184|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/s0065-2164(01)49013-7|isbn=978-0-12-002649-4|access-date=17 October 2020|last2=Chung|first2=King-Thom|pmid=11757350}}</ref> the successful treatment was major news, particularly popularised in ''[[The Times]]''. Wright was surprised to discover that Fleming and the Oxford team had not been mentioned, though Oxford was attributed as the source of the drug. Wright wrote to the editor of ''The Times'', which eagerly interviewed Fleming, but Florey prohibited the Oxford team from seeking media coverage. As a consequence, only Fleming was widely publicised in the media,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gaynes|first=Robert|date=2017|title=The Discovery of Penicillin&nbsp;– New Insights After More Than 75 Years of Clinical Use|journal=Emerging Infectious Diseases|volume=23|issue=5|pages=849–853|doi=10.3201/eid2305.161556|pmc=5403050}}</ref> which led to the misconception that he was entirely responsible for the discovery and development of the drug.<ref name="History: Great myths die hard">{{cite journal|last1=Dufour|first1=Héloïse D.|last2=Carroll|first2=Sean B.|date=2013|title=History: Great myths die hard|journal=Nature|volume=502|issue=7469|pages=32–33|doi=10.1038/502032a|pmid=24137644|doi-access=free}}</ref> Fleming himself referred to this incident as "the Fleming myth."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Ho|first=David|date=29 March 1999|title=Bacteriologist Alexander Fleming|magazine=Time|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990612,00.html|access-date=17 October 2020|issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Selwyn|first=Sydney|date=1980|title=Howard Florey: the making of a great scientist|journal=Journal of Medical Microbiology|volume=13|issue=3|pages=483|doi=10.1099/00222615-13-3-483|doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== The Churchills ===
The popular story<ref>e.g., ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 17 July 1945: Brown, ''Penicillin Man'', note 43 to Chapter 2</ref> of [[Lord Randolph Churchill|Winston Churchill's father]] paying for Fleming's education after Fleming's father saved young [[Winston Churchill|Winston]] from death is false.<ref name="History: Great myths die hard"/> According to the biography, ''Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution'' by [[Kevin Brown (historian of medicine)|Kevin Brown]], Alexander Fleming, in a letter<ref>14 November 1945; British Library Additional Manuscripts 56115: Brown, ''Penicillin Man'', note 44 to Chapter 2</ref> to his friend and colleague Andre Gratia,<ref>see Wikipedia [[Discovery of penicillin]] article entry for 1920</ref> described this as "A wondrous fable." Nor did he save Winston Churchill himself during [[World War II]]. Churchill was saved by [[Charles Wilson, 1st Baron Moran|Lord Moran]], using [[Sulfonamide (medicine)|sulphonamides]], since he had no experience with penicillin, when Churchill fell ill in [[Carthage]] in Tunisia in 1943.<ref name=":1">{{cite book |url=https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/Vespiary/talk/files/5876-the-first-miracle-drugs-how-the-sulfa-drugs-transformed-medicine0a94.pdf |title=The first miracle drugs: how the sulfa drugs transformed medicine |vauthors=Lesch JE |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-518775-5 |location=Oxford |pages=158–159 |chapter=Chapter 7: M&B 693 |quote= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721062237/https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/Vespiary/talk/files/5876-the-first-miracle-drugs-how-the-sulfa-drugs-transformed-medicine0a94.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2019}}</ref> ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' and ''[[The Morning Post]]'' on 21 December 1943 wrote that he had been saved by penicillin. He was saved by the new sulphonamide drug [[sulphapyridine]], known at the time under the research code M&B 693, discovered and produced by [[May & Baker]] Ltd, [[Dagenham]], Essex – a subsidiary of the French group [[Rhône-Poulenc]]. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Churchill referred to the new drug as "This admirable M&B".<ref name=":1" /><ref>''A History of May & Baker 1834–1984'', Alden Press 1984.{{ISBN?}}</ref>