Successful mass production of antibiotic penicillin
The crisp, crisp autumn weather continues, making it feel like autumn is in the air, but as the weather gets colder, you're worried about colds and flu.
This year, we have already experienced an unseasonal influenza outbreak, so we need to be even more vigilant.
By the way, did you know that essential oil and distilled water extracted from the Hiba tree contain a component called hinokitiol , which not only has deodorizing properties but also has antibacterial properties that keep mold and bacteria away ?
Hinokitiol was discovered by Dr. Tetsuo Nozoe of Tohoku University. That was in 1936 .
At that time, it was already known that hinokitiol had antibacterial effects, but four years later, in 1940 , two researchers, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain , began mass producing the antibiotic penicillin . I will make it successful .
Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928 , but it had not been possible to produce it in large quantities for therapeutic use. Flory and Chain were the ones who made it happen.
The mass production of penicillin was called the " rediscovery of penicillin, " and Fleming, Florey, and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 1945 .
By the way, this Fleming is different from the John Fleming of ``Fleming's Law.''
Hinokitiol acts on drug-resistant pneumococci
This is a little off-topic, but the rediscovery of penicillin saved many lives and led to the development of various antibiotics. For this reason, hinokitiol has been kept away from the medical field.
However, in recent years , bacteria and viruses that are not resistant to antibiotics and chemicals have appeared, and `` drug-resistant bacteria '' have become a worldwide problem.
Antimicrobial-resistant bacteria is also called `` Antimicrobial Resistance '', or AMR for short, and the WHO (World Health Organization) has made countermeasures against antimicrobial-resistant bacteria the theme of ``World Health Day'' in 2011 , and emphasizes the need for global countermeasures. So much so that I am complaining.
Under these circumstances, hinokitiol is once again attracting attention as a natural antibiotic .
The major impetus for this was a report by a research team at Niigata University Graduate School.
According to the study, hinokitiol showed therapeutic effects on pneumococci that had acquired drug resistance .
This is likely to be a ray of hope as the number of pneumococci that become drug-resistant increases year by year due to the heavy use of antibiotics.
It is not clear that hinokitiol has any effect on colds or influenza, and it may take some time before it is actually used in medical settings.
I would like to pay attention to future developments in how natural antibiotics will be utilized .
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