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The Treatment Of Penicillin During World War II

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Deaths caused by infection were greatly reduced. No more ineffective amputations. Allies had their secret weapon; they just had to keep it from falling into enemy hands. Penicillin was available only to the Allied forces during World War II (Robert). “The ultimate triumph of Anglo-American efforts to mass produce penicillin during the Second World War can be said to have eclipsed the existence of similar attempts in other countries.” Although some penicillin was produced in Germany, the Germans were not successful in producing large quantities of it to treat their soldiers. German casualties were among the highest, over 5 million German soldiers died in World War II. “Penicillin is effective in lowering mortality in gas gangrene after adequate excision of devitalized tissue, but is relatively ineffective without such supportive surgical excision. This final appraisal of penicillin therapy for gas gangrene received British and American concurrence.” Penicillin was successful in treating gas gangrene, something physicians would have said “impossible” in 1914, during The First World War. Then, the only thing doctors could do was watch their patients die as they succumbed to their infections. Now, because of penicillin, there was a way to save them, and that is why penicillin was so important. The fact that the Allies were the only ones who had access to it added to its significance. Also, the fact that the Allies tried as hard as they did to prevent Germany from getting it

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