BPS 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Agostino Bassi, Peoria, Illinois, Ernst Boris Chain

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Biopharmaceutical sciences
• Course: BPS 1101
• Professor: William Ogilvie

Document Summary

Rates dropped dramatically ~1930 when penicillin became available. In wwi & wwii more deaths were caused by infection than by combat. 1854: john snow disproves the miasma theory (bad smell = disease) Agostino bassi showed that fungi and bacteria cause disease. Erlich creates salvarsan 606 ,the first antibiotic. Not very effective as it was not water soluble, so it had to be injected weekly. Needed 600 ml, and took over an hour (very difficult) Prontasil was developed next, however only worked in-vivo (not in petri dishes) Metabolized into sulfanilamide, which was then marketed. Doesn"t kill bacteria, just stops their growth (allows the immune system to kill them), works by blocking a bacterial enzyme (mimics substrate) A bacterial culture became contaminated with mould which killed the bacteria. Noticed that penicillin killed certain types of bacteria (not all) Thought it could be used to purify bacteria. Also determined that the extract was not harmful to mice.