Alexander Fleming

Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish bacteriologist and Nobel Prize winner, best known for his discovery of penicillin.

Alexander Fleming was born in 1881. He did research work at one of the hospitals in London and became interested in bacterial action and antibacterial drugs. In 1922, during his work on the bacteriology of septic wounds, he discovered lysozyme, a ferment found in many animal tissues and secretions which attacks bacteria. He was already much preoccupied with the problem of discovering anti-bacterial agents that were not toxic or harmful to the living organism.

Fleming discovered penicillin by mistake when he was trying to study Staphylococcus bacteria in 1928. He was running experiments with the bacteria in his laboratory at London's St. Mary's Hospital, and set a laboratory dish containing the bacteria near an open window. Upon returning to the experiment, he found that some mould blown in through the open window onto the dish, contaminating the bacteria.

Instead of throwing away his spoiled experiment, Fleming looked closely at it under his microscope. Surprisingly, he saw not only the mould growing on the bacteria, but a clear zone around the mould. Fleming understood the importance of what had happened and immediately began to study the phenomenon.

He placed some mould on other plates and grew more colonies. By means of numerous experiments on animals he determined that this new substance was not toxic to the tissues and stopped the growth of the most common pathogenic bacteria.

Fleming called this substance penicillin. It is of the same family of moulds that often appear on dry bread.

But many investigations had been carried out before a method of extracting pure penicillin was found. It was also very difficult for Fleming to interest biologists and mould experts in penicillin and to decide the problem of its production.

In 1942 Fleming tried his own first experiment. A friend of his was very ill, dying. After several injections of penicillin the man was cured. It marked the beginning of penicillin treatment.

However, it was not until World War II that penicillin, the first antibiotic, was finally isolated by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain. Fleming, Florey and Chain received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1945, for their discovery which revolutionized medicine and led to the development of lifesaving antibiotics.

Fleming wrote numerous papers on bacteriology, immunology and chemotherapy. He was elected professor of the medical school in 1928 and emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of London in 1948. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1943 and knighted in 1944. He said: “Everywhere I go people thank me for saving their lives. I do not know why they do it. I didn't do anything. Nature makes penicillin. I only found it.”

Fleming died on 11 March 1955.

Exercise 7. Answer the questions:

1. What was Alexander Fleming?

2. When was he born?

3. What was he interested in during his work at one of the hospitals in London?

4. How did he develop penicillin?

5. What did Fleming determine by means of his experiments?

6. What marked the beginning of penicillin treatment?

7. How was Fleming honoured?

8. When did Alexander Fleming died?

Exercise 8. Find English equivalents of the following word combinations in the text:

Відкрити пеніцилін; фермент, знайдений в багатьох тканинах тварин; атакувати бактерії; відкривати антибактеріальні речовини; живі організми; заражати бактерії; проводити експерименти з бактеріями в своїй лабораторії; цвіль, що росте на бактерії; вбивати шкідливі бактерії; дослідницька робота; випробувати свій власний експеримент; перший антибіотик; привести до розвитку; лікування пеніциліном; виникати на сухому хлібі; вирішити проблеми.

Exercise 9. Match the terms with their explanations:

Exercise 10. Guess the name of antiseptics according to their definitions:

Alcohol, Brilliant Green, Boric acid, Eucalyptus, Hydrogen peroxide, Iodine, Tea Tree Oil

Exercise 11. Arrange the following sentences in a correct order to describe the following term “penicillin”:

1. It is used in the treatment or prevention of many different bacterial infections, usually caused by Gram-positive organisms.

2. Alexander Fleming re-discovered its antibiotic properties in 1928.

3. Penicillins were originally discovered by Ernest Duchesne (a medical student) in the late 19th Century.

4. Originally, penicillin is an antibiotic substance obtained from cultures of the molds Penicillium notatum.

5. He realized this when a sample of a certain bacteria (Staphylococcus) became contaminated by some mold (Penicillium fungi) and that all bacteria cells closest to the mold were dying.

Exercise 12. Put the verbs in brackets in the appropriate form using Continuous Active Tenses. Translate sentences:

1. “What (to be) you doing now?” - “I (to be) preparing for my credit test in Physics.”

2. Yesterday from 2 till 6 o'clock we (to be) working at our scientific laboratory.

3. When I was at my sister's at 4 p.m. yesterday she (to be) learning Latin.

4. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. I (to be) preparing a lecture.

5. We (to take) the examination at ten o'clock yesterday.

6. They (not to carry out) an experiment at the moment.

7. While rector (to make) his speech all students (to listen) to him with great attention.

8. Tomorrow I (to write) my article for conference when you come.

Evercise 12. Underline the correct form of the verb:

1. Victor is working/works in the pathology lad at the City Hospital.

2. What do you usually do/are you usually doing in case of flu?

3. While my mother was calling in a doctor, my brother cries/was crying.

4. He is testing/tests blood to look for bacteria and parasites.

5. Most day she is analysing/analyses samples and is carrying/carries out tests on blood.

6. Usually he enjoys/is enjoying his work even though sometimes he works/is working night shifts and weekends.

7. He is also counting/counts blood cells and is matching/matches blood for transfusions.

8. Today Victor is examining/examines body fluids under the microskope.

Exercise 13. Translate sentences into English:

1. Зараз микробіолог вивчає інформацию про нові бактерії..

2. Вчора в цей час наша група відвідувала анатомічний театр.

3. Викладач екзаменує студента в цей час.

4. Вони не проводимуть експерименти у вівторок о третій годині.

5. Я готувалася до іспиту з физиології, коли викладач зайшов до аудиторії.

6. В данний час я йду на курси для медсестер.

7. В цей час наступного понеділка ми будемо представляти нові ліки на щорічній конференції.

8. Вона буде здавати кров на аналіз завтра о дев'ятій годині.

Exercise 14. Put questions to the underlined words:

1. Sir Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist.

2. Alexander Fleming made a brilliant career at St Mary's Hospital.

3. In 1928 he discovered penicillin.

4. Florey and Chain reinvestigated its properties and preparation.

5. Fleming received many British and foreign honours in recognition of his discoveries.

6. Penicillins were one of the first drugs used to treat diseases such as syphilis.

7. Alexander Fleming died suddenly on March 11th in 1955.

8. Не was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Exercise 15. Open the brackets using the verbs in the appropriate form. Translate the sentences:

In 1941, a doctor, Charles Fletcher, at a hospital in Oxford (to hear) of Howard Florey and Ernst Chain's work. He (to have) a patient who (to be) near to death as a result of bacteria getting into a wound. Fletcher (to use) some of Chain’s and Florey’s penicillin on the patient and the wound (to make) a spectacular recovery. Unfortunately, Fletcher did not have enough penicillin to fully rid the patient’s body of bacteria and he (to die) a few weeks later as the bacteria took a hold. However, penicillin (to show) what it could do. The only reason the patient did not survive was because they did not have enough of the drug - not that it did not work.

Florey (to get) an American drugs company to mass produce it and by June 6th 1944, enough (to be available) to treat all the bacterial infections that broke out among the troops. Penicillin got nicknamed "the wonder drug".

Завдання для самостійної роботи студентів (СРС)

Exercise 1. Topic vocabulary:

Exercise 2. Divide the words into two columns – nouns and adjectives. Translate them into your native language:

Example: heart (n) – cardiac (adj), neck (n) – cervical (adj).

Facial, spinal, pelvis, lung, basic, neck, anatomical, buccal, palate, extremity, skull, nasal, surface, cranial, cheek, cervical, renal, tongue, pulmonary, liver, trunk, lingual, mouth, cardiac, oral, kidney, palatine, hepatic, tongue, pelvic.

Exercise 3. Read the following word combinations and translate them into Ukrainian:

Injury: occupational injury, sports injury, intentional injury, soft tissue injury, brain injury, the cause of injury. He escaped from the accident without injury.

To breathe: to breathe in, to breathe out, to breathe easily/freely, to breathe one’s last, a natural fabric that breathes.Give me a moment to breathe. Don't breathe a word of this.

Surface: outer surface, interior surface, facial surface, buccal surface, masticatory surface, lingual surface, superficial.

Extremity: upper extremity, lower extremity, complex extremity trauma. it is important to keep the extremities warm. Extremity angiography is a test used to see the arteries in the hands, arms, feet or legs.

Exercise 4. Read and translate the text:

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