Editing Penicillin (section)

=== Development and medical application ===
[[File:Howard Walter Florey 1945.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Howard Florey]] (pictured), Alexander Fleming and [[Ernst Chain]] shared a [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] in 1945 for their work on penicillin.]]
In 1930, Cecil George Paine, a [[pathologist]] at the [[Sheffield Royal Infirmary|Royal Infirmary]] in [[Sheffield]], successfully treated [[Neonatal conjunctivitis|ophthalmia neonatorum]], a gonococcal infection in infants, with penicillin (fungal extract) on November 25, 1930.<ref name="Wainwright, M & Swan, HT 1986 42–56">{{cite journal | vauthors = Wainwright M, Swan HT | title = C.G. Paine and the earliest surviving clinical records of penicillin therapy | journal = Medical History | volume = 30 | issue = 1 | pages = 42–56 | date = January 1986 | pmid = 3511336 | pmc = 1139580 | doi = 10.1017/S0025727300045026 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Howie J | title = Penicillin: 1929-40 | journal = British Medical Journal | volume = 293 | issue = 6540 | pages = 158–59 | date = July 1986 | pmid = 3089435 | pmc = 1340901 | doi = 10.1136/bmj.293.6540.158 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Wainwright M | title = The history of the therapeutic use of crude penicillin | journal = Medical History | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | pages = 41–50 | date = January 1987 | pmid = 3543562 | pmc = 1139683 | doi = 10.1017/s0025727300046305 }}</ref>

In 1940, Australian scientist [[Howard Walter Florey|Howard Florey]] (later Baron Florey) and a team of researchers ([[Ernst Boris Chain|Ernst Chain]], [[Edward Abraham]], [[Arthur Duncan Gardner]], [[Norman Heatley]], [[Margaret Jennings (scientist)|Margaret Jennings]], [[Jean Orr-Ewing]] and Arthur Gordon Sanders) at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, [[University of Oxford]] made progress in making concentrated penicillin from fungal culture broth that showed both ''in vitro'' and ''[[in vivo]]'' bactericidal action.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/chain-lecture.html|title=Ernst B. Chain – Nobel Lecture: The Chemical Structure of the Penicillins|website=www.nobelprize.org|access-date=2017-05-10|archive-date=2017-04-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430172918/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/chain-lecture.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1941, they treated a policeman, [[Albert Alexander (police officer)|Albert Alexander]], with a severe face infection; his condition improved, but then supplies of penicillin ran out and he died. Subsequently, several other patients were treated successfully.<ref name="SW" /> In December 1942, survivors of the [[Cocoanut Grove fire]] in Boston were the first burn patients to be successfully treated with penicillin.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Levy SB | title = The Antibiotic Paradox: How the Misuse of Antibiotics Destroys Their Curative Powers | publisher = Da Capo Press | year = 2002 | pages = 5–7 | isbn = 978-0-7382-0440-6 }}</ref>

The first successful use of pure penicillin was in 1942 when Fleming cured Harry Lambert of an infection of the nervous system (streptococcal [[meningitis]]) which would otherwise have been fatal. By that time the Oxford team could produce only a small amount. Florey willingly gave the only available sample to Fleming. Lambert showed improvement from the very next day of the treatment, and was completely cured within a week.<ref name=":42">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bennett JW, Chung KT | title = Alexander Fleming and the discovery of penicillin | journal = Advances in Applied Microbiology | volume = 49 | pages = 163–84 | date = 2001 | pmid = 11757350 | doi = 10.1016/s0065-2164(01)49013-7 | publisher = Elsevier | isbn = 978-0-12-002649-4 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Cairns H, Lewin WS, Duthie ES, Smith H |date=1944|title=Pneumococcal Meningitis Treated with Penicillin |journal=The Lancet|language=en|volume=243|issue=6299|pages=655–59|doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(00)77085-1}}</ref> Fleming published his clinical trial in ''[[The Lancet]]'' in 1943.<ref name="Fleming 1943 434–438"/> Following the medical breakthrough, the British [[War Cabinet]] set up the Penicillin Committee on 5 April 1943 that led to projects for [[mass production]].<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Mathews JA |date=2008|title=The Birth of the Biotechnology Era: Penicillin in Australia, 1943–80 |journal=Prometheus|volume=26|issue=4|pages=317–33|doi=10.1080/08109020802459306|s2cid=143123783}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|vauthors=Baldry P|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvs8AAAAIAAJ|title=The Battle Against Bacteria: A Fresh Look|date=1976|publisher=CUP Archive|isbn=978-0-521-21268-7|pages=115|language=en|access-date=2020-12-31|archive-date=2021-05-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505180529/https://books.google.com/books?id=rvs8AAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>