La pénicilline, agent de propagande

Transcription

1 La pénicilline, agent de propagande Gilbert Shama Loughborough University United Kingdom CEMI 16 Colloque sur le Contrôle Epidémiologique des Maladies Infectieuses Institut Pasteur le 13 mai 2011 An account of an accident at St Mary s Hospital, London

2 The re-discovery of penicillin. The Lancet, August 1940 Everything you needed to know about producing penicillin but were afraid to ask.. The Lancet, August 1941

3 Misinformation...? Formula for strontium salt of Penicillin published in Nature, 1942 C 24 H 34 O 11 NSr Penicillin in time of war.. Dunkirk Start of the Blitz Stalemate in the W. Desert Fall of Singapore

4 Penicillin in the media First Article in The Times 27 th August, 1942 Letters to.a laurel wreath for Professor Alexander Fleming for the discovery of penicillin Sir Almroth Almost Wright Right Professor of Bacteriology, St Mary s Hospital, London 31 st August, 1942 a bouquet at least, and a handsome one, to Professor H W Florey for the discovery of therapeutic penicillin Robert Robinson, Waynflete Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford 2 nd September, 1942

5 Number of Citations in The Times English Language Broadcasts Ariel in Wartime 4 th September, 1942 Marching On 15 th October, 1942 Penicillin 2 nd September, 1943 Producing the Drug Penicillin 22 nd October, 1943 Penicillin 20 th December Science Notebook 10 th April, 1944

6 Unwanted Publicity..a flood of pathetic letters from Western Australia to Saskatchewan Letter HW Florey to the BBC, October 1942

7 Ici Londres. - French Language Broadcasts Medical News st July, 1943 Medical News th September, 1943 Une Grande Decouverte de la Science Anglaise 17 th February, 1944

8 To Japan

9 Transmission of P. notatum cultures Pre 1940 Julius Hirsch Berlin & Istanbul Siegbert Bornstein Beth Israel Hospital New York André Lwoff Institut Pasteur Dr Hans Schmidt IG Farben Marburg Werke Johanna Westerdijk WCS, Baarn, Holland Harold Raistrick London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Roger Reid Penn State University Georges Dreyer Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford Distribution of P. notatum NCTC 4222 after the outbreak of war. Division of Industrial Chemistry Council for Scientific & Industrial Research, East Melbourne, Australia. Indian Inst. of Science. Bangalore, India The British Council S.A. Brewing Co. Ltd., Adelaide, S. Australia. N.Z. Government, Strand W.C. School of Pathology, T.C.D., Eire. Aktiebololaget Marvello Stockholm, Sweden. Guinness Brewery, Dublin, Eire. Dept. of Pathology, Univ. Coll. Dublin, Eire. Ministry of Agriculture, Belfast, N. Ireland. Laboratorio Fidelis, Lisbon, Portugal Alexr. Lipworth Pty. Co., Johannesburg, S. Africa. Bakubhai Ambalal & Co., Bombay, India. South African Inst. For Medical Research, Johannesburg. Clinsearch Laboratories, Johannesburg, S. Africa. Imperial Mycologist, New Delhi, India.

10 Information Wars in France Jean Gérard Secretary General Maison de la Chimie Frédéric Joliot-Curie Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Access to the best microfilming facilities, paper and printing presses Jean Wyart Crossed between Occupied and Unoccupied Zones Primarily French- German exchanges of scientific literature Access to Anglo- American Material Bulletin Analytique Information Cascade in the French Pharmaceutical Industry Applications to WCS, Baarn for cultures of P. notatum Laboratoires du Dr Roussel 7 th July, 1943 Etablissements Byla 23 rd September, 1943 Maison L Frere 3 rd February, 1944

11 Publish and be damned? Nitti, F. (1944). Un nouveau traitement des infections microbiennes par un produit élaboré par les moisissures: la pénicilline. Le Progrès Médical. No. 1, 10 th January, Martin, R., Sureau, B., and Vittoz, A. (1944) Un cas de méningite a pneumocoques sulfamido-résistants traitée par la pénicilline. Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société Médicale des Hôpitaux de Paris, Nos. 11 & 12, 17 March, Martin, R., and Sureau, B. (1944). La pénicilline et ses applications thérapeutiques. Paris Médical. 10th June, Wervelwind Leaflet Dropped over N. Holland by the RAF 24/25 th April, 1944

12 Me too

13 Vorsprung durch (englische) technik Advertisement The Observer 16 th April, 1944

14 Homemade Penicillin?

15 Chemical Synthesis of Penicillin 39 Laboratories Commercial Organizations Universities Government Agencies Private Foundations Expenditure by pharmaceutical and chemical companies alone ~ $3 million Second in scale only to the Manhattan project

16 FIN