| After completing his MB from the University of London in 1908
with a Gold Medal, Fleming was excited by the prospect of productive research and working
with Professor Wright, a great technical and creative genius. Fleming received a
professorship at the University and began to work on vaccine therapy under Sir Almroth
Wright. First World War interrupted this research and Fleming became a captain in the
Royal Medical Corps. He was called upon to treat soldiers with infected wounds. Fleming
discovered that some of the antiseptics, which were in use that time, were ineffective
since they adversely affected that body and could not destroy the bacteria. |
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Fleming continued his work in the laboratory. He said, "I venture to
suggest that the antiseptic at present in use will only exercise a beneficial effect in a
septic wound if it possesses the property of stimulating or conserving the natural
defensive mechanism of the body."
Antiseptics, he maintained, find their true application in preventing the
infection of war wounds. In their prophylactic treatment, they should be lavishly used
outside the wound, and there should be early and thorough surgical treatment of the wound.
According to Fleming, the most important antibacterial agents in the body
are the cells themselves. During his whole career Fleming was interested in the
destruction of bacteria by various agents including Leukocytes. During the First World
War, he investigated problems in the treatment of septic wounds. In the year 1922, he
discovered lysozyme, a potent anti-bacterial ferment. As the substance had properties
similar to those of ferments, he called it lysozyme. Fleming abhorred a tidy, meticulous
lab. He used to leave culture dishes lying around for weeks and would often find
interesting things in them. The discovery of penicillin took place in similar fashion.
He left a culture dish lying on the lab bench and then went away on
vacation. When he returned, a few spores of an unusual mould had germinated on the plate.
When he cultured the bacteria on the plate, he found that they grew up within a few
centimeters of the mould, but they were killed. A crude extract of the mould had
antibacterial properties. He called the mould penicillin. Fleming worked with the mould
for some time, but refining and growing it was a difficult process better suited to
chemists. The work was taken over by a team of chemists, but got interrupted when several
of them died or got relocated. It took Second World War to revitalize the interest in
penicillin and Howard Florey and Ernst Chain picked up the work. In recognition for his
contribution, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945.
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