Antibiotics
Bacterial illnesses and infections once killed a very large number of people around the world. Today, many of those infections are relatively minor illnesses, quickly remedied with the use of antibiotic medications. Antibiotics are a fairly recent innovation. Before the discovery of antibiotic compounds, common illnesses, like strep throat, were fatal with significant regularity, and illnesses like bacterial meningitis were fatal 90 percent of the time. Today, a trip to the doctor’s office and a prescription can cure and treat many of these conditions.
In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming recognized that a mold growing in his laboratory, the Penicilium mold, could kill Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Fleming and other scientists continued the research on a prepared variant on the mold, now called Penicillin. By 1941, they found that Penicillin could cure a range of different bacterial illnesses. Penicillin was used to treat war injuries during World War II, and was widely available to the general public by the late 1940s.
Research on new, stronger and different antibiotics began almost immediately. While Penicillin was very effective, it was not always effective, nor could it treat every bacterial infection. During the 1950s, a number of other antibiotics were developed to treat additional conditions and kill other types of bacteria. In addition to curing a number of bacterial infections, antibiotics have also facilitated the growth of surgery, the use of chemotherapy, and other essential medical treatments.
While antibiotics have dramatically reduced the risk of death from common infections, they are not without their own problems. Today, antibiotic resistance is increasingly a problem, as more and more bacteria have evolved to resist the actions of different types of antibiotics. Overuse of antibiotics, as well as other antibacterial products has significantly contributed to the problem of antibiotic resistance. Research continues to find new drugs to treat resistant bacteria, and new policies are in place to reduce the use of antibiotics.
Access to and the use of antibiotics is closely linked to the dramatic extension of human life expectancy over the course of the 20th century.