Hello dear readers of the blog www.site! Today I will tell you about something that you have probably thought about more than once in everyday life, when someone in your household got sick. We will talk about herbal antibiotics.

We will learn how to replace herbal antibiotics made using special technology with antibiotics prepared at home from plants.

There is hardly a person among us who has not experienced the effects of conventional medical antibiotics. Doctors prescribe them to us for pneumonia, cystitis, sore throat, purulent wounds, infectious and other diseases.

Once upon a time, antibiotics saved humanity from many serious diseases, but later it became clear that they also had side effects that were no less significant for the body. Therefore, under some circumstances, people began to look for a replacement for them in order to overcome the disease and not harm the body.

As we already know, each synthetic drug has its own indications and contraindications, of which antibiotics, unfortunately, have more. But we must not forget about Mother Nature, who created plants with antibacterial properties to replace synthetic antibiotics.

Herbal antibiotics are practically free of the disadvantages that are present in synthetic ones. The chemical nature of herbal medicines in their composition is much better suited to the human body, since over the course of many years, in the course of long evolution, it has already adapted to their absorption.

They are more easily included in the process of life and are not rejected by the human body. Herbal medicines do not have side effects, have a milder effect, are less toxic, and are not addictive.

Plant antibiotics have a fairly wide spectrum of action, and most importantly, they are active against strains of microorganisms and viruses that have already become resistant to antibiotics. In addition, many plants not only do not weaken the body’s defenses, but, on the contrary, strengthen human immunity.

List of herbal antibiotics

Various plant substances have antibiotic properties, including essential oils (phytoncides), alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides and others. One of the first effective plant antibiotics was quinine.

During Soviet times in Russia, there was an active search for plants with pronounced antimicrobial and protistocidal (against protozoa) effects. As a result, a number of highly active substances with antibiotic properties were isolated. The most famous of them are novoimanin, sangviritrin, sodium usninate. Here we will study each of them in more detail.

In addition, antimicrobial properties were found in such widely known plants as: garlic, onion, horseradish, radish, hot peppers, turmeric, cloves, bearberry, lingonberry, thyme, celandine, wormwood, bergenia, calendula, birch (leaves and buds) ), poplar (buds), salvia officinalis (leaf), Cetraria Icelandica, usnea and others.

Novoimanin

Novoimanin was developed at the Institute of Microbiology and Virology of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine from St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.). You can read about the properties of St. John's wort in my article.

It is obtained by extracting the herb St. John's wort with acetone. Then, followed by removal of chlorophyll from the extract using regular activated charcoal. Aqueous preparations of St. John's wort (infusions, decoctions) do not have an antibacterial effect.

Novoimanin is active against gram-positive bacteria; we suppress staphylococcus strains that are resistant to penicillin even at a dilution of 1:1000000 (1 μg/ml). It has been found to stimulate immunogenesis.

It is prescribed as an external remedy for abscesses, phlegmon, infected wounds, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, ulcers, pyoderma, mastitis, rhinitis, pharyngitis, and sinusitis.

At home, prepare a tincture of St. John's wort with vodka, which is also a fairly strong antibiotic. It is used externally and internally for bacterial infections of the intestines (dysbacteriosis, diarrhea, dysentery, food toxic infections) and the genitourinary system (prostatitis, cystitis, urethritis, pyelonephritis), etc.

• To do this, you need to take 50 g of dry crushed grass (preferably leaves with flowers without stems), pour 0.5 liter of vodka, leave for two weeks in a dark place. Take 1-2 teaspoons (up to 1 tablespoon) with a small amount of water three times a day, twenty to thirty minutes before meals. The course of treatment, depending on the disease and its severity, ranges from 2 days to two weeks.

I also advise you to watch this video to see what other useful qualities St. John’s wort has that are not described here:

Sangviritrin was developed in the 50s of the last century at the All-Russian Research Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (VILAR). It is the sum of the bisulfates of two alkaloids: sanguinarine and chelerethrine, isolated from the herb Macleaia cordata and Macleaia parctifolida, growing only in China.

Sangviritrin has a wide spectrum of antimicrobial activity. At home, it can be replaced with a tincture of dried celandine roots in vodka, since macleia is not found in Russia, and celandine contains the same alkaloids. It is prepared in the same way as St. John's wort tincture.

It’s even better to infuse fresh celandine roots in 96% alcohol for 15 days at the rate of 30 g of roots per 100 ml of alcohol.

This tincture is used as an external remedy in the form of applications, lotions and rinses for infectious and inflammatory diseases of the skin, mucous membranes of bacterial and fungal etiology, for periodontitis, aphthous stomatitis, as well as other diseases of the oral mucosa, middle ear and external auditory canal, sore throat , long-term non-healing wounds and ulcers.

To avoid burns, the tincture for applications is diluted with three parts of water.

Treatment is carried out until the symptoms of the disease disappear completely. To rinse, dilute 1 teaspoon of tincture in ½ cup of warm water.

Sodium usinate

Sodium usinate is obtained from the Usnea dasypoga lichen. It is active against Staphylococcus aureus, various streptococci, pneumococci and tubercle bacilli. Externally used for the treatment of purulent processes, fresh wounds and infected wound surfaces, varicose and trophic ulcers, as well as for traumatic osteomyelitis and burns of 2 and 3 degrees.

Icelandic centraria, or Icelandic moss (Cetraria islandica), has a similar effect. I wrote about all the beneficial properties of Icelandic centraria.

Research conducted in recent years has established that an aqueous extract of Icelandic moss has antibacterial activity against a number of pathogenic bacteria, including Helicobacter pylori - one of the factors of gastric and duodenal ulcers, as well as Koch's bacillus - the causative agent of tuberculosis.

Clinical trials have proven the effectiveness of using cetraria decoction as a gargle to reduce inflammation and suppress oral infections in patients with postoperative obstruction of the nasal passages.

Thanks to its emollient and expectorant effect due to its rich content of mucous substances, Icelandic moss is a good remedy for bronchitis with painful cough, pulmonary tuberculosis, whooping cough, bronchial asthma and other respiratory diseases.

Externally, decoctions of this lichen are used for washing and lotions for purulent wounds, skin ulcers, pustular rashes, boils, and burns.

At home, a decoction is prepared from these lichens, which has a pronounced antibiotic effect.

• For this, 1 tbsp. pour a spoonful of crushed raw materials into two glasses of boiling water, boil for 30 minutes, leave until cool, strain. Take 0.5 - 2/3 tbsp up to 4 times a day 30 minutes before meals. They are treated over a course of treatment ranging from 2 weeks to several months, depending on the severity of the disease.

But the most powerful antibiotic effect of the plants studied today is Sophora yellowish, also known under other names: Sophora yellowish and Sophora angustifolia. It can be classified as a broad-spectrum antibiotic, since there are practically no pathogenic bacteria that could resist this plant.

At the same time, unlike chemical drugs, it has no side effects and does not suppress beneficial microflora in the human body.

Externally, a tincture or infusion of the roots is usually used.

The tincture is prepared with vodka in a ratio of 1:10, that is, for 0.5 liters of vodka, take 50 grams of dry crushed roots, leave for two weeks, and filter.

For skin diseases, use undiluted tincture, and for rinsing and douching, use one tbsp. l. tinctures are diluted in one glass of water.

To prepare the infusion:

• You will need one tablespoon of crushed dry Sophora roots, which is poured with one glass of boiling water and left to cool. Then filter.

This is where I end the article, and I hope the knowledge gained will definitely be useful to you. After all, herbal antibiotics are much safer than synthetic ones, which can sometimes do much more harm than good.

“When I woke up at dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly did not plan to revolutionize medicine with my discovery of the world’s first antibiotic or killer bacteria,” he wrote in his diary. Alexander Fleming, the man who invented penicillin.

The idea of ​​using microbes to fight germs dates back to the 19th century. It was already clear to scientists that in order to combat wound complications, we must learn to paralyze the microbes that cause these complications, and that microorganisms can be killed with their help. In particular, Louis Pasteur discovered that anthrax bacilli are killed by the action of certain other microbes. In 1897 Ernest Duchesne used mold, that is, the properties of penicillin, to treat typhus in guinea pigs.

In fact, the date of invention of the first antibiotic is September 3, 1928. By this time, Fleming was already famous and had a reputation as a brilliant researcher; he studied staphylococci, but his laboratory was often untidy, which was the reason for the discovery.

Penicillin. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

On September 3, 1928, Fleming returned to his laboratory after a month of absence. Having collected all the cultures of staphylococci, the scientist noticed that mold fungi appeared on one plate with the cultures, and the colonies of staphylococci present there were destroyed, while other colonies were not. Fleming attributed the mushrooms that grew on the plate with his cultures to the genus Penicillium, and named the isolated substance penicillin.

During further research, Fleming noticed that penicillin affected bacteria such as staphylococci and many other pathogens that cause scarlet fever, pneumonia, meningitis and diphtheria. However, the remedy he isolated did not help against typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever.

As Fleming continued his research, he discovered that penicillin was difficult to work with, production was slow, and penicillin could not survive in the human body long enough to kill bacteria. Also, the scientist could not extract and purify the active substance.

Until 1942, Fleming improved the new drug, but until 1939 it was not possible to develop an effective culture. In 1940, a German-English biochemist Ernst Boris Chain And Howard Walter Flory, an English pathologist and bacteriologist, were actively involved in trying to purify and isolate penicillin, and after some time they were able to produce enough penicillin to treat the wounded.

In 1941, the drug was accumulated on a sufficient scale for an effective dose. The first person to be saved with the new antibiotic was a 15-year-old boy with blood poisoning.

In 1945, Fleming, Florey and Chain were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of penicillin and its beneficial effects in various infectious diseases."

The value of penicillin in medicine

At the height of World War II in the United States, the production of penicillin had already been put on the conveyor belt, which saved tens of thousands of American and allied soldiers from gangrene and amputation of limbs. Over time, the method of producing the antibiotic was improved, and since 1952, relatively cheap penicillin began to be used on an almost global scale.

With the help of penicillin, you can cure osteomyelitis and pneumonia, syphilis and puerperal fever, and prevent the development of infections after wounds and burns - previously all these diseases were fatal. During the development of pharmacology, antibacterial drugs of other groups were isolated and synthesized, and when other types of antibiotics were obtained.

Drug resistance

For several decades, antibiotics became almost a panacea for all diseases, but even the discoverer Alexander Fleming himself warned that penicillin should not be used until the disease is diagnosed, and the antibiotic should not be used for a short time and in very small quantities, since under these conditions Bacteria develop resistance.

When pneumococcus that was not sensitive to penicillin was identified in 1967, and antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus were discovered in 1948, scientists realized that.

“The discovery of antibiotics was the greatest benefit for humanity, the salvation of millions of people. Man created more and more new antibiotics against various infectious agents. But the microcosm resists, mutates, microbes adapt. A paradox arises - people are developing new antibiotics, but the microcosm is developing its own resistance,” said Galina Kholmogorova, senior researcher at the State Research Center for Preventive Medicine, candidate of medical sciences, expert of the National Health League.

According to many experts, the fact that antibiotics lose their effectiveness in fighting diseases is largely to blame for the patients themselves, who do not always take antibiotics strictly according to indications or in the required doses.

“The problem of resistance is extremely large and affects everyone. It causes great concern among scientists; we can return to the pre-antibiotic era, because all microbes will become resistant, not a single antibiotic will act on them. Our inept actions have led to the fact that we may find ourselves without very powerful drugs. There will simply be nothing to treat such terrible diseases as tuberculosis, HIV, AIDS, malaria,” explained Galina Kholmogorova.

That is why antibiotic treatment must be treated very responsibly and a number of simple rules must be followed, in particular:

It is worth noting that the mold that can easily be found on products is not always penicillin or it.

Together with another doctor, Fleming was engaged in research on staphylococci. But without finishing his work, this doctor left the department. Old dishes with cultures of microbial colonies were still on the shelves of the laboratory - Fleming always considered cleaning his room a waste of time. One day, having decided to write an article about staphylococci, Fleming looked into these cups and discovered that many of the cultures there were covered with mold. This, however, was not surprising - apparently mold spores had been brought into the laboratory through the window. Another thing was surprising: when Fleming began to examine the culture, in many cups there was no trace of staphylococci - there was only mold and transparent, dew-like drops. Has ordinary mold really destroyed all pathogenic microbes? Fleming immediately decided to test his guess and placed some mold in a test tube with nutrient broth. When the fungus developed, he introduced various bacteria into the same cup and placed it in a thermostat.

What is mold? It is a multicellular fungus, a living organism whose spores are distributed everywhere. They can be found in the air, on the surface of walls or objects, as well as on food. Mold can cause serious harm to human health, but by growing it in the laboratory, it is possible to obtain components for a number of medications. Many lovers of biology and the animal world are interested in the question of how to grow mold yourself? This is not difficult to do; if a certain microclimate is maintained, the spores will spread very quickly.

How to create favorable conditions for mold growth?

The structure of mold cells is similar to animal cells. Like any living microorganism, it requires food and a certain habitat for successful reproduction.

Nutrition. Mushrooms cannot produce food on their own, so for normal life they require an external source of food. In this, mushrooms are similar to representatives.

mold water lactose corn starch

Penicillin refers to antibiotics that were obtained naturally, without the use of any artificial methods. This medicine is obtained from ordinary mold or its synthetic analogue. In any case, the problem of making penicillin at home is not fully resolved. Is there an answer to the question of how to make penicillin? So, below will be some instructions or, so to speak, a recommendation that allows you to create an antibiotic at home. You don't have to go far - penicillin can be made from certain products. It’s worth opening your refrigerator and simply finding a spoiled product, for example, cheese. You can look into the bread bin, because this particular product can spoil quite quickly. The mold that appears is penicillin. How to inject it is not entirely clear.

It is worth noting that the mold that can be easily removed.

“When I woke at dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly did not plan to revolutionize medicine with my discovery of the world’s first antibiotic or killer bacteria,” Alexander Fleming, the man who invented penicillin, wrote in his diary.

The idea of ​​using microbes to fight germs dates back to the 19th century. It was already clear to scientists that in order to combat wound complications, we must learn to paralyze the microbes that cause these complications, and that microorganisms can be killed with their help. In particular, Louis Pasteur discovered that anthrax bacilli are killed by the action of certain other microbes. In 1897, Ernest Duchesne used the mold, i.e. the properties of penicillin, to treat typhus in guinea pigs.

In fact, the date of invention of the first antibiotic is September 3, 1928. By this time, Fleming was already famous and had a reputation as a brilliant researcher; he studied staphylococci, but his laboratory was often unkempt.

There is no misfortune that this natural antibiotic with a very wide spectrum of action cannot help with. It will strengthen the immune system, heal wounds with burns, frostbite and cracks, kill all types of fungi, even meat coated with this unique waste product of bees can not spoil after a long stay in the scorching sun. Do you have a problem? Propolis will solve it. Therefore, if you find yourself in an extreme situation.

If a blue crust appears on the bread, the thrifty housewife will carefully cut it off and put the rest on the table, confident that she is showing concern for her family. And if he notices black fluff on a carrot, wash it thoroughly, peel it until it turns red, and put it in soup or salad.

But is all mold on food healthy? How to distinguish the one that is edible from the one that can lead to the grave? World of News learned about this.

NOT ALL MOLD IS A CURE

Penicillin is an antibiotic whose appearance has saved more than one million human lives. Is it the same penicillin that grows on vegetables, fruits, and bread? Not at all! “Antibiotics are made only from a certain type of penicillium fungus, which inhibits the growth of harmful microorganisms. It should be remembered that penicillin is also a mycotoxin and it is also harmful to humans, it’s just that when treating serious diseases, the benefits of its use outweigh the harm. In addition, natural penicillin is subjected to careful processing and...

Beginning of the 10th century. The world, unarmed in the face of deadly bacteria, is shaken by epidemics of “Spanish flu” (flu), scarlet fever, diphtheria, and in Russia - anthrax, malaria, cholera, syphilis, Asian cholera, and typhus. Infections cause infant mortality - every fourth child dies before the age of one (remember the family of L.N. Tolstoy). Thanks to this figure, the average resident of Russia lives at the turn of the century only up to 32 years, in Europe - up to 45. Inflammation from a simple cut on the lip sometimes led to death (the case of A.N. Scriabin), killing half a million Russians every year. Hospitals were losing wounded due to post-operative sepsis.

The use of antibiotics has pushed into the background many previously fatal diseases (tuberculosis, dysentery, cholera, purulent infections, pneumonia and many others). With the help of antibiotics, infant mortality has been significantly reduced. Antibiotics are of great benefit in surgery, helping the body weakened by the operation to cope.

In December 1940, he accidentally scratched his face with a rose thorn. By the end of the month, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus infections had developed and he was hospitalized. Despite the doctors' efforts, the disease progressed and Albert's entire head was covered with abscesses. To reduce the pain, he even had to remove one eye.

The mood of the time is easy to understand from the decision made in the laboratory: if invaders invade Oxford, all equipment and documentation for the production of penicillin must be destroyed.

How to grow penicillin at home

In conditions of extreme survival, any wound can take months to heal, frostbite will certainly lead to gangrene, and mild inflammation can cause blood poisoning, so you don’t even need to mention such serious diseases as pneumonia.

Using homemade penicillin at home is only possible in a truly extreme situation.

Natural antibiotics, herbs

In conditions of extreme survival, any wound can take months to heal, frostbite will certainly lead to gangrene, and mild inflammation can cause blood poisoning, so you don’t even need to mention such serious diseases as pneumonia.

However, nature has taken good care of us, providing a wide range of natural antibiotics and medicinal herbs, the magical effects of which, unfortunately, today are mostly known only to shamans and village grannies.

There is no misfortune that this natural antibiotic with a very wide spectrum of action cannot help with. It will strengthen the immune system, heal wounds with burns, frostbite and cracks, kill all types of fungi, even meat coated with this unique waste product of bees can not spoil after a long stay in the scorching sun. Do you have a problem? Propolis will solve it. Therefore, if, finding yourself in an extreme situation, you still decide to climb into the hive with the bees and take their honey, do not forget to take propolis at the same time (it smells like incense when burning). Depending on the location of the disease, there are several ways to prepare propolis-based medicines at home:

Ointment: To make a medicinal ointment based on propolis, we will need 15-20 grams of propolis for 100 grams of any oily base (olive or any other unrefined vegetable oil is best), after which the mixture must be boiled in a water bath for an hour, stirring occasionally with a wooden with a stick. You can replace the oily base with butter by adding 5 ml of water, in which case the boiling time is reduced to 15 minutes. Before use, it is advisable to filter the solution through 2 layers of gauze. Store in a dark container in a dark, cool place.

Oral tincture: Let 10 grams of propolis steep in 100 ml of water (50 degrees C) for 24 hours and you will get a pleasant-smelling yellowish aqueous solution with a shelf life of up to one week in a cool place. The daily safe dose is 2 tablespoons 4 times a day an hour before meals.

And may the power of the bees be with you.

Treatment with penicillin, which was the first antibiotic discovered and was widely used at the beginning of the last century, will get rid of a bacterial infection or kill you if you are allergic to it. However, if you find yourself far from the nearest settlement and become seriously ill (not with a viral disease), this may be the only natural antibiotic that can still save your life.

Instructions: To get penicillin, you don’t have to go far, just open the refrigerator and find cheese with green mold, but it’s not a fact that this mold will be a penicillin fungus, and even if it is, the concentration of antibiotic in it is unlikely to be enough for used as a treatment for bacterial infections, otherwise in case of illness, doctors would simply stupidly prescribe to eat mold. If there are no other options, and even magic propolis did not help you, you can get penicillin as follows:

Take a piece of bread or a slice of citrus and leave it to deteriorate in an environment of 21 degrees Celsius. After the greenish-bluish mold appears, cut the bread or lemon into pieces, placing them in a pre-sterilized conical flask, in the dark at 21 degrees Celsius, for five days.

It is very likely that after five days without antibiotics for a bacteriological disease, you are unlikely to need penicillin, however, nevertheless, prepare a nutrient medium for future mold colonies by dissolving the following ingredients in half a liter of cold water in the sequence indicated here: 44 grams of Lactose (you can replace with glucose, sucrose, etc., while ensuring their continuous supply), 25 g corn starch, 3 g sodium nitrate, 0.25 g magnesium sulfate, 0.5 g monocalcium phosphate, 2.75 g glucose monohydrate, 0.044 g zinc sulfate and 0.044 manganese sulfate. Now add cold water so that the total volume is 1 liter, and use perchloric acid to adjust the pH of the culture between 5.0 and 5.5.

Pour the nutrient medium into bottles, such as milk bottles, sterilize them, then add a teaspoon of mold spores. To obtain penicillin, all that remains is to let the bottles brew for 7 days, under the same conditions, then filter the liquid with the nutrient medium and freeze it as soon as possible to avoid decomposition of the finished penicillin.

It is better to treat with penicillin immediately and ONLY if there is no suitable alternative. As a strong antibiotic, it is capable of combating both blood poisoning and any bacteriological pathogen, but one must be aware that the penicillin obtained in the manner described above will contain admixtures of toxic types of mold, and it is very likely that these strains can slow down, and or even completely prevent the release of penicillin, which will lead to even greater bacteriological infection of your body. Using homemade penicillin at home is only possible in a truly extreme situation.

It is dangerous to list all the healing effects of this miraculous natural antibiotic herb, otherwise, being impressed, you will switch to St. John's wort and water in everyday life. Antimicrobial, anthelmintic, wound healing, hemostatic, tonic and anti-inflammatory, St. John's wort has a phytocidal effect, destroying staphylococci, streptococci, pathogens of tuberculosis and dysentery. With the tincture, everything is simple, dry crushed St. John's wort makes an excellent tea, but do not overuse it too much, you may develop intolerance, which can lead to very disastrous consequences, it is better to drink tea in the evening from Ceylon, and save St. John's wort for serious cases, but to make it on based on this medicinal ointment, you just need to mix 4 parts of melted butter with 1 part of an alcohol tincture based on St. John's wort (1 part of St. John's wort is infused in vodka for a couple of weeks).

I was interested in the question: is it possible to obtain antibiotics at home? For example, penicillin?
Curious how dependent we are on society??? In 2010, could an ordinary person help himself cope with sore throat, pneumonia, sepsis, etc.? creating enough medicine without the risk of poisoning? I'm not a doctor, but I'll try to figure it out...

Penicillin ( Benzylpenicillin) is the first antibiotic, that is, an antimicrobial drug obtained from the waste products of microorganisms.

Family Mucedinaceae. Class imperfect fungi.
Among the mushrooms widespread in nature, green racemose molds belonging to the genus Penicillium, many species of which are capable of producing penicillin, are of greatest importance for medicinal purposes. Penicillin aureus is used to produce penicillin. This is a microscopic mushroom with septate branched mycelium that makes up the mycelium. On artificial nutrient media it forms giant colonies. On the 12-14th day of growth on Czapek agar medium, the colonies are velvety, 30-40 mm in diameter, sometimes with scattered aerial hyphae, greenish-blue, then green, with a white edge during the growth period; with age, acquiring a brownish tint, with abundant colorless or yellow drops of exudate on the surface. The reverse side of the colony is yellow or brownish-yellow. The surrounding agar turns yellow. Special hyphae develop on the mycelium - conidiophores, which carry spores. In the production of penicillin, only selected strains that do not produce a yellow pigment are currently used. Most of these strains originate from a pigmentless mutant of this species, obtained by the action of ultraviolet rays on a pigment-forming strain. Derivatives of this strain, obtained by exposing it to ethyleneamine followed by selection, have the ability to produce up to 3-4 thousand units of penicillin in 1 ml of culture liquid. The morphological characteristics of these strains are as follows: the colony on the 12-14th day reaches 10-15 mm in diameter, strongly folded, convex or crater-shaped. The growing edge is very narrow and steep. A creamy-white colony with a faint greenish tint is not formed; the agar surrounding the colony is not colored. The mycelium is thickened with shortened swollen cells.
Penicillin is prepared as follows. The culture is carried out on media containing corn extract, which increases the yield of penicillin. The best carbohydrate for culture fluid is lactose. Adding phenylacetic acid and phenylacetamide to the nutrient medium at a concentration of 0.02-0.08% significantly increases the yield of penicillin, since these substances are included in the antibiotic molecule. Penicillin is grown using the submerged culture method in special fermenters with a capacity of several tons. Penicillin is extracted from the culture liquid by sequential treatment with organic solvents and weakly alkaline salt solutions, from which it then crystallizes in the form of sodium and potassium salts.
The active antimicrobial substances contained in the culture liquid of penicillin producers are a mixture of various penicillins. Different types of penicillin have the same main core and different side chains (radicals). All of them are heterocyclic compounds, the molecules of which are based on a bicyclic system built from fused thiazolidine and p-lactam rings. Currently, over 10 natural penicillins containing various radicals are known. Industrial (medicinal) penicillin contains predominantly benzylpenicillin. Currently, it is also used in medical practice phenoxymethylpenicillin (penicillin - PAA), which is not destroyed by gastric juice and can be administered orally. Its precursor is phenoxymethylacetic acid, which is added to the culture medium.
Penicillin is a highly effective antibacterial agent, widely used in medical practice for the treatment of diseases caused by streptococcus, staphylococcus, meningococcus, pneumococcus, gonococcus and other pathogenic aerobic bacteria. It is used in the form of sodium, potassium and other salts for sepsis and wound infection, pneumonia, acute and subacute septic endocarditis, purulent skin infection, septicemia and pyaemia, osteomyelitis, tonsillitis, gonorrhea, syphilis and other diseases. The most effective is intramuscular and intravenous administration of benzylpenicillin. It is also injected into serous cavities, joints, abscesses, fistulas for poliomyelitis; bandages soaked in penicillin are applied to infected wounds and ulcers; it is recommended for rinsing and in tablet form for sore throats. Phenoxypenicillin is used orally in tablet form in the same cases as benzylpenicillin. Well-purified penicillins are practically non-toxic.
Preparations - crystalline penicillin (sodium and potassium salts of benzylpenicillin), penicillin - calcium salt, novocaine salt of penicillin, etc.

Conclusion: I wouldn’t risk doing this at home... of the dozens of varieties of mushrooms, most are toxic... it’s difficult to get the right one and clean it.

Curious... about a sore throat... not sure about the authenticity
“Penicillin stopped acting on staphylococci more than 50 years ago - then strains resistant to penicillin appeared (the so-called PRSA - penicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus or penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). Thus, at present, the vast majority of all strains of Staphylococcus aureus are resistant to penicillin. Over time, a number of other antibiotics ceased to act on staphylococci - this microorganism became resistant (resistant) to them. Such bacteria are called MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), and they are resistant to all antibiotics of the penicillin group, as well as same as a whole range of antibacterial drugs from other groups."

You can read it in great detail and interestingly here... Biological encyclopedia Based on the publications: "The Life of Animals" in 6 volumes (Publishing House "Prosveshchenie": M., 1970, edited by professors N.A. Gladkov, A.V. Mikheev) and “The Life of Plants” in 6 volumes (Publishing house “Prosveshchenie”, M., 1974, edited by A. L. Takhtadzhyan, editor-in-chief, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Prof. A. A. Fedorov).

Penicillin- a legendary drug. It began the era of antibiotics, which saved millions of human lives. This remedy is still used in the treatment of certain infections. Today it is fashionable to criticize antibiotics, attributing to them all conceivable and inconceivable shortcomings. But with the advent of penicillin, the world changed forever and certainly became a better place.

Who discovered Penicillin?

At the beginning of the 20th century, a means to combat infections became a necessity. The population grew, especially in industrial cities. And with such crowding, any infection threatened a large-scale epidemic.

Scientists already knew a lot about bacteria, the causative agents of the most common and dangerous diseases were isolated and studied, and some drugs were used. But there was no truly effective medicine.

At the end of the 20s of the last century (1881 - 1955), he actively studied pathogenic microorganisms, including staphylococci - the cause of many diseases.

History of discovery

The literature, including fiction, colorfully describes that the Scottish scientist was careless and did not deactivate the bacterial cultures immediately after working with them. And one day he noticed that the growing mold had dissolved the colonies in one of the Petri dishes.

You need to understand that this was not ordinary mold, but brought from a neighboring laboratory. It turned out that it belongs to the genus Penicillium (penicillum). There were doubts about its variety, but experts determined that it was penicillium notatum.

Fleming began growing this fungus in bottles of nutrient broth and conducting tests. It turned out that even with strong dilution, this antiseptic is able to suppress the growth and reproduction of not only staphylococcus, but also other pathogenic cocci (gonococcus, pneumococcus), and diphtheria bacillus. At the same time, cholera virions, typhus and paratyphoid pathogens did not respond to the action of penicillium notatum.

But the main questions were how to isolate a pure substance that destroys bacteria, how to maintain its activity for a long time? - There was no answer to them. Fleming tried to use the broth topically - for treating purulent wounds, for instillation into the eyes and nose (for rhinitis). But massive research has reached a dead end.

In the 40s, attempts to isolate pure penicillin were continued by the so-called Oxford group of microbiologists. Howard Walter Florey and Ernest Chain obtained a powder that could be diluted and injected.

Research was spurred by the Second World War. In 1941, the Americans joined the research and invented a more effective technology for producing penicillin. This medicine was necessary at the fronts, where any wound and even just abrasion threatened blood poisoning and death.

The Soviet government asked the Allies to provide a new medicine, but received no response. Then the Institute of Experimental Medicine, headed by Z. V. Ermolyeva. Several dozen variants of the Penicillium fungus were studied and the most active one was isolated - Penicillium crustosum. In 1943, domestic “penicillin-crustosin” began to be produced on an industrial scale.

This drug turned out to be more effective than the American one. Flory himself visited Moscow to verify this. He, too, wanted to get the original culture of our antibiotic. He was not refused, but was given Penicillium notatum, already known in the West.

Modern concept of antibiotics

Antimicrobial drugs today are divided into many groups. According to the production method they are divided into:

1. Biosynthetic - natural - they are isolated from cultures of microorganisms;
2. Semi-synthetic - they are obtained by chemical modification of substances secreted by microorganisms.

The classification by chemical composition is widely used:

• β-lactams - penicillin, cephalosporin, etc.;
• Macrolides - erythromycin, etc.;
• Tetracyclines and so on.

Antibiotics are also divided according to their spectrum of action: broad spectrum, narrow spectrum. By predominant effect:

1. bacteriostatic - stop bacterial division;
2. bactericidal - destroy adult forms of bacteria.

Modern penicillin and natural antibiotics

Today the ancestor of all antibiotics is called benzylpenicillin. This is a β-lactam natural bactericidal drug. In its pure form it does not have a wide spectrum of action. Some types of gram-negative bacteria, anaerobes, spirochetes and some other pathogens are sensitive to it.

Most of the “claims” that people now like to make about all antibiotics can be attributed to natural penicillins:

1. They often cause allergies - immediate and delayed reactions. Moreover, this applies to any products that contain penicillin, including cosmetics and food products.
2. The toxic effect of penicillins on the nervous system, mucous membranes (inflammation occurs), and kidneys has also been described.
3. When some microorganisms are suppressed, others can multiply enormously. This is how superinfections arise - for example,.
4. This medicine must be administered in injections - it is destroyed in the stomach. In addition, the drug is eliminated quickly, requiring frequent injections.
5. Many strains of microorganisms have or are developing resistance to its action. People who misuse the antibiotic are often to blame.

But it is important to understand that such (and a wider) list of undesirable effects of penicillins appeared thanks to their excellent study. All these disadvantages do not make this drug “poisonous” and do not cover up the obvious benefits that it still brings to patients.

Suffice it to say that all international medical organizations have recognized the possibility of treating pregnant women with penicillin.

To expand the spectrum of action of a natural antibiotic, it is combined with substances that destroy bacterial defenses - β-lactamase inhibitors (sulbactam, clavulonic acid, etc.). Long-acting forms have also been developed.

Modern semi-synthetic modifications help overcome the disadvantages of natural penicillin.

Antibiotics of the penicillin group

Natural penicillins:

• benzylpenicillin (penicillin G);
• phenoxymethylpenicillin (penicillin V);
• benzathine benzylpenicillin;
• benzylpenicillin procaine;
• benzathine phenoxymethylpenicillin.

Semi-synthetic penicillins:

Extended spectrum of action -

Against Pseudomonas aeruginosa -

• Ticarcillin;
• Azlocillin;
• Piperacillin;

Against staphylococcus -

• Oxacillin;

Combined with beta-lactamase inhibitors -

• Ampicillin/sulbactam.

How to dilute penicillin

Whenever an antibiotic is prescribed, the doctor must indicate the exact dose and dilution ratio. Trying to “guess” them on your own will lead to dire consequences.

The dilution standard for penicillin is 100,000 units per 1 ml of solvent (this can be sterile water for injection or saline). Different solvents are recommended for different drugs.

For the procedure you will need 2 syringes (or 2 needles) - for dilution and for injection.

1. Following the rules of asepsis and antiseptics, open the ampoule with the solvent and draw the required amount of liquid.
2. Puncture the rubber cap of the bottle with penicillin powder with a needle at a 90-degree angle. The tip of the needle should appear no more than 2 mm from the inside of the cap. Add the solvent (required amount) into the bottle. Disconnect the syringe from the needle.
3. Shake the bottle until the powder is completely dissolved. Place the syringe on the needle. Turn the bottle upside down and draw the required dose of medication into the syringe. Remove the bottle from the needle.
4. Change the needle to a new one - sterile, closed with a cap. Give an injection.

It is necessary to prepare the drug immediately before the injection - the activity of penicillin in the solution decreases sharply.