How Well Do You Know Penicillin?

Penicillin is classified as an antibiotic. Antibiotics are drugs that are used to treat bacterial infections by either killing or inhibiting the growth of bacteria. Penicillin specifically targets and destroys the cell walls of bacteria, making it an effective treatment for a wide range of bacterial infections. It is not used to treat malaria, provide antidotes, or act as a sedative.

Alexander Flemings is the correct answer because he is the one who discovered the drug. He was a Scottish biologist and pharmacologist who is famous for his discovery of the antibiotic substance called penicillin in 1928. Flemings' discovery revolutionized the field of medicine and led to the development of many life-saving antibiotics.

Malaria is a disease caused by a parasite transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Penicillin is an antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections and has no effect on parasites like the one causing malaria. Therefore, penicillin cannot induce the side effect of malaria.

Penicillin is an antibiotic that is effective in treating bacterial infections. Among the options listed, gonorrhea is the only bacterial disease, caused by the Neisseria gonorrhoeae bacteria, that can be treated with penicillin. Malaria is caused by a parasite and is typically treated with antimalarial drugs, not penicillin. Typhoid is caused by the Salmonella typhi bacteria and is usually treated with antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin or azithromycin. HIV is a viral infection and cannot be treated with penicillin.

Penicillin was found in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming. In 1936, a team of British scientists led by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain successfully purified and tested penicillin, leading to its use as the first effective antibiotic. Therefore, the correct answer is 1936.

The drug was found in England.

Fed-batch is a technique used to grow penicillin. In this method, the growth medium is initially filled with nutrients and then additional nutrients are added in small amounts over time. This allows for better control of the growth conditions and helps to optimize the production of penicillin. By providing the necessary nutrients in a controlled manner, the fed-batch technique ensures that the penicillin-producing fungi have a constant supply of nutrients, leading to higher yields of penicillin.

Dorothy Hodgkin is the correct answer because she determined the chemical structure of Penicillin. Hodgkin was a British biochemist and crystallographer who used X-ray crystallography to study the three-dimensional structures of molecules. In 1945, she successfully determined the structure of Penicillin, which played a crucial role in the development of antibiotics and revolutionized the field of medicine.

Glucose can inhibit penicillin production. This is because glucose is a preferred carbon source for the growth of many microorganisms, including the penicillin-producing fungi. When glucose is present in high concentrations, it can repress the expression of genes involved in penicillin biosynthesis, leading to a decrease in penicillin production.

Penicillin was first discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. He noticed that a mold called Penicillium notatum had the ability to kill bacteria. However, it was not until 1942 that penicillin was successfully used to treat patients. So, while the discovery of penicillin occurred in 1928, its use in patients began in 1942.