Page 85 - All About History - Issue 08-14

History's narrowest escapes

HOW A MOULDY
MELON SAVED MILLIONS

s the troops landed on the shores of
Normandy on 6 June 1944, the medics who
accompanied them carried a new weapon.
It was not one that could be used against
A the enemy, but it was the ultimate defence
for soldiers who had been wounded.
During the first 24 hours of the Normandy
landings, there were around 12,000 Allied
casualties. Yet some 3,000 lives were saved during
Operation Overlord, thanks to the new wonder
drug, which was able to fight infections. This new
wonder drug was called penicillin and was first
discovered in 1928.
While studying influenza, British scientist
Alexander Fleming went on holiday and upon
returning noticed some blue-green mould growing
in one of the petri dishes he had been using. The
fungus had a bacteria-free area around it and
Fleming realised that something in the mould
must be killing the bacteria and found that the
mould was penicillum notatum.
Fleming may have discovered the new drug but
it wasn’t until years afterwards that it would be
developed into a workable antibiotic agent. In 1939,
with war clouds gathering over Europe, Howard
Florey, an Australian scientist took another look
at Fleming’s work with the help of two other
scientists, Ernst Chain and Norman Heatley.
They ultimately developed a way to purify small
amounts of penicillin. Then, in 1940, they injected US troops wading through water and Nazi gunfire trying to storm Omaha beach
it into four of eight mice that had been infected
with fatal doses of bacteria; the ones that had not
been injected died while the others survived. “ It was clear antibiotics could make a
It was clear that antibiotics could make a big
difference in the war, curing soldiers and civilians difference in the war”
of deadly infections. In early 1941, the team
came across Albert Alexander, who was dying of in a rotting cantaloupe melon from a local market. Channel. The development of penicillin in time for
infection. They treated him with penicillin and The type of mould on it, identified as penicillin D-day was one of the factors that gave the Allies
his condition improved, but they couldn’t make chrysogenum, produced 3,000 times the amount the upper hand as they drove on into Germany.
enough of the stuff to and he died weeks later. of penicillin originally created by Fleming. It If it wasn’t for a mouldy melon, WWII could have
Penicillin’s pioneers had proved that it could be became the strain from which most of the world’s turned out very differently.
used to cure infection but producing it in bulk was penicillin would be made and mass production
now their biggest headache and so they travelled could now begin.
to the United States. When the US entered the war, By 1944, total US production was up to 130
the race to produce penicillin on a massive scale billion units a month, with British factories History’s Narrowest Escapes by
heated up and in 1943 came a major breakthrough chipping in too. By the launch of D-day, there James Moore and Paul Nero, priced
in the manufacturing process. Mary Hunt, an were 2.3 million doses – 180 tonnes – available £9.99, is out now.
enthusiastic worker in one of the US labs brought to the soldiers poised to pour across the English www.thehistorypress.co.uk © Alamy; US Coast Guard; Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan; US Navy; Peter Scott/Art Agency; Joe Cummings

l 1928 l 1940 l 1941 l 1943 l 1944 l 1945
Alexander Fleming Dr Howard Florey, Ernst Albert Alexander is The US lead the Troops taking Fleming, Florey
discovers penicillin Chain and colleagues the first patient to be way in production part in the and Chain are
to be an anti- at Oxford University treated with penicillin of penicillin D-day landings jointly awarded
bacterial agent isolate the active but the new drug is after the best in Normandy are the Nobel Prize
while working at ingredient of penicillin. difficult to extract in strain for its bulk equipped with for their work
St Mary’s Hospital Experiments on mice bulk and supply runs manufacture is penicillin, which on penicillin
Medical School show its potential as a out before his life can found in a mouldy saves thousands and the lives it
in London. medicine for humans. be saved. cantaloupe melon. of Allied lives. has saved.
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