Penicillin: Benefits and Risks

This assignment delves into the uses and potential dangers of penicillin. It highlights penicillin's importance as an effective antibiotic against bacterial infections while emphasizing the risks associated with its use, especially in individuals with allergies. The document discusses adverse reactions like fever, vomiting, and seizures, as well as the limitations of penicillin against viral infections. It also cautions against inappropriate use and emphasizes the need for careful consideration of potential risks before administering penicillin.

PENICILLIN

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
There is a variety of medicinal drugs that were developed for their antithetic functions.
However, it should be recognized that the simpler antibiotic drug Penicillin is proven to be most
effective against many of the bacterial infections (Fernandes, Amador and Prudêncio, 2013).
The present report will emphasize on the discovery of penicillin along with its chemical
properties. Further, the undertaking essay will shed lights on the usefulness of mentioned drug in
the modern-day society. This will be accomplished by analysing its major advantages. Further,
its cons will be studied in the present report.
MAIN BODY
Penicillin is a widely used antibiotic used for various bacterial infections due to its
effectiveness. This drug is proved as a true turning point in human history by having a tool that
can completely cure the patients from the infectious diseases. It was first discovered in 1928 by a
bacteriologist Alexander Fleming. The history behind this evolution is very interesting. Fleming
once returned from hi summer vacations and found a messy lab bench. He then started
examining some colonies of Staphylococcus aureus and observed that a mould called penicillin
notatum had contaminated the Petri dishes (Fernandes, Amador and Prudêncio, 2013). When he
examined these dishes attentively under microscope it has been observed that the contamination
of mould has prevented the growth of staphylococci. Later, Fleming took furthermore weeks to
be sure about this fact meanwhile he had confirmed his findings by analysing the same results.
This research has lead to the development of the most effective and powerful antibiotic
overnight. However, this medicine was taken for use after a time of 14 years. It was first applied
to Anne Miller, a civilian that was lying near death due to an infection that led to blood
poisoning. However, it should be noted that due to lack of laboratory research and suitable
chemistry support thus to analyse that on which germs it is most effective and what is
appropriate method to use it, the work fell to Dr. Howard Florey, a pathology professor. A
detailed research was then undertaken by the mentioned professor and his team for analysing the
effectiveness of penicillin. After passing all the laboratory tests, the drug was made ready for use
(Nicolaou, 2014).
The chemical structure of penicillin was determined by Dorothy Crowfoot
Hodgkin in 1940. The selected compound is a group of antibiotics that includes penicillin G,

penicillin V, procaine penicillin and benzathine penicillin. Its molecular formula is
C16H18N2NaO4S with a molecular weight of 357.38 g/mol. The count of hydrogen donor
bonds are 2 and hydrogen bond acceptor counts 5 with a rotatable count of 4. Some common
chemical names of penicillin are penicillin, pentids, penicillin G Na salts, benzyl penicillin Na
salts, etc. THe IUPAC name of it is sodium 3,3 di-methy-7 -oxo-6- [(-2penylacetyl)amino]-4-
thia-1-azabicyclo [3.2.0]heptane- 2- carboxylic acid. The selected antibiotics group is
canonicalised in nature having 24 heavy atom count (Clarke, 2015).There are further two
covalently bonded units in penicillin. The formal charge on it is 1. The crude form of penicillin is
observed to be toxic for mice when given intravenously. This outcomes was found with the
single dose of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 g/kgm. The melting point of the selected antibiotic is
observed to be 215.5 C Penicillin is a R-group drug having G+ and a few G- spectrum of
activity.
The mechanism of action of penicillin is that it acts by inhibiting the formation of
peptidoglycan cross-links in the cell of bacteria. This action is performed by weakening the cell
wall of bacterium with the action of lactam moiety. These moieties binds with the enzymes that
are linked with the peptidoglycan molecules. There exists a wide variety of bacterial infections
that can be treated with the use of penicillin. This medicine performs both the function for
effective results and they are killing target bacteria and inhibiting the growth of the bacteria. The
biggest advantage of using penicillin is that it can save the lives of people affecting from severe
bacterial infections. It also performs the action of stopping the function of bacterial enzymes to
create a cell wall. The experimental use of penicillin is also used in treatment of gastric ulcers,
typhoid and Lyme disease (Macy and Contreras, 2014). It has been further observed that, the
penicillin is prescribed to heal other medical problems that bacterial infections such as
leptospirosis, helicopter, etc. Also, any human organ having any kind of infection can be treated
effectively by Penicillin. Some common infections treated by it involves urinary tract infection,
gonorrhoea, skin infections, dental infections, ear and respiratory tract infections.
However, it should be recognised that there exist some of the disadvantages of
this this drug in medicinal use (Baddour and et. al., 2015). They are the common side-effects
such as diarrhoea, nausea, rashes, urticaria, etc. Also, there are few adverse impacts of using
penicillin to the allergic person like fever, vomiting, erythema, seizures, etc. Also, drug of a class
can not be used for the other. For instance: penicillin is not effective to treat any viral infection.

There are some drugs in the penicillin group that are not approved to be applied in some
instances such as amoxicillin and ampicillin can not be applied for treatment of chlamydia in
pregnant women. The use of medicine is moreover not safe for patients having bronchitises,
kidney diseases, blood clotting disorder or other form of allergy. Further, it is highly hazardous
for the people that have allergies from penicillin. In addition to this, it has been observed that
there are increasing number of cases reported against the use of penicillin. However, the reason
behind this is the fact that people are using the medicine for other functions like viral diseases,
sore throat, etc. that penicillin does not take responsibility for (Jarrad and et. al., 2015).
CONCLUSION
From the present report, it can be concluded that Penicillin is an important antibiotic used
against various bacterial infections. This evolutionary medicine has been proved as the most
effective tool against the infections. This report has helped in stating the importance of the
mentioned mould by an opportunity to examine all its advantages. Further, the understanding of
disadvantages caused by the drug will assist in considering them before using it.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baddour, L. M., & et. al., (2015). Infective endocarditis in adults: diagnosis, antimicrobial
therapy, and management of complications. Circulation, 132(15), 1435-1486.
Clarke, H. T. (Ed.). (2015). Chemistry of Penicillin. Princeton University Press.
Fernandes, R., Amador, P., & Prudêncio, C. (2013). β-Lactams: chemical structure, mode of
action and mechanisms of resistance. Reviews in Medical Microbiology, 24(1), 7-17.
Jarrad, A. M., & et. al., (2015). Clostridium difficile drug pipeline: challenges in discovery and
development of new agents. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 58(13), 5164-5185.
Macy, E., & Contreras, R. (2014). Health care use and serious infection prevalence associated
with penicillin “allergy” in hospitalized patients: a cohort study. Journal of Allergy and
Clinical Immunology, 133(3), 790-796.
Nicolaou, K. C. (2014). Advancing the drug discovery and development process. Angewandte
Chemie, 126(35), 9280-9292.