Penicillin

Hello everybody!!
Today's lesson is about penicillin! Some of you might not know what penicillin is, but I'm gonna teach you! Here's our lesson plan!

• What is penicillin?
• Who created penicillin? 
• What are antibiotics?
• Why are mice used to test antibiotics?
• Why are antibiotic overdoses bad?
• What was Alexander Fleming's contribution to penicillin?

Let's get started!!

1. What is penicillin? Penicillin is an antibiotic used to fight bacteria in your body.  It is used to fight infectious diseases such as pneumonia, gonorrhea, rheumatic fever, and ear infections. Penicillin was the very first natural antibiotic to ever be created! Good job, Mr. Fleming!
2. Who created penicillin? Alexander Fleming created penicillin in 1948, but it was not confirmed and used in hospitals until November 19, 1999. 
3. What are antibiotics? Antibiotics are medicinal drugs used to kill or prevent reproduction in harmful bacteria. Before antibiotics were made, if you had an infected cut, all doctors could do was sit and wait, and hope that the infection didn't spread. After penicillin was made, the doctors could finally do something that stopped the infections!
4. Why were mice used to test penicillin? Well, normally, scientists used Guinea pigs or hamsters to test medicines. For some reason, Mr. Fleming decided to use mice. If he hadn't used mice, there would be no penicillin right now, because drugs are toxic to Guinea pigs and hamsters! Maybe Mr. Fleming knew, maybe he didn't, but if he had used Guinea pigs, they would have died, and penicillin would have been put aside as dysfunctional. 
5. Why are antibiotic overdoses bad? Antibiotic overdoses don't have the same effects as other drug overdoses, but if you use penicillin, and even one bacterial cell gets away, that cell has immunity to penicillin. If that cell reproduces, that immunity is passed from the parent to the offspring, and if that cell reproduces, what happens? It just goes on and on. The more you use antibiotics, the more cells have immunity to that drug!
6. Believe it or not, the founding of penicillin was an accident! Fleming found a certain type of mold in an old unwashed petri dish. He later found out that that mold held a medicine that we now call penicillin! 

Here's this YouTube video that I found explaining how penicillin was found a little bit more in detail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qeZLLhx5kU

I think that's it for today! Comment any questions that you may have! Also, feel free to use any information on this post! Have a good day!

Lydia