Tears and onions

Alexander Fleming was not a tidy man -
 thus he often found unusual bacterial growths
in his agar plates. One day he noted a plate
contaminated with airborne bacteria.

A tidy man would have thrown the plate out.
But a drop of nasal mucus, or perhaps a tear,
fell onto the plate. He saw a killing zone:
a transparent circle around the mucus.

Delighted, he extended his tests for weeks
using tears supplied by his co-workers
at St Mary's Hospital, London. He needed
more tears than they could produce.

Neither sad thoughts nor onions brought out
the necessary amount of tears.
Large numbers of lemons worked better, 
but still not enough for his research.

The demand for fresh tears was so great,
lab attendants were pressed into service,
paid 3 pence each time they managed to cry.
Fleming extended his work further.

Inspired, he tested sputum, cartilage, blood,
semen, ovarian cyst fluid, pus, and egg white  -
ask not where he got them – he discovered
the bactericidal agent was present in all of these. 

He named this antibacterial enzyme
lysozyme – studying its role in immunity,
he concluded that the body had natural protection
that antiseptics could wipe out, with deadly results.

World War I broke out on 28 July 2014.
Fleming and the Inoculation Department
of St Mary's moved to the British Military Hospital
in a former casino at Boulogne-sur-Mer.

He saw many soldiers dying of sepsis
from infected wounds. He insisted
that antiseptics were killing more soldiers
than infections by removing beneficial agents

along with the bacteria. No one listened.
He was just a very untidy man with odd ideas.
His boss, Almroth Wright, supported Fleming.
But he too was ignored by the army doctors.

Nicknamed 'Sir Almost Right' and known
by staff for his aversion to statistical evidence,
he too saw the army doctors using antiseptics
even in cases where patients got worse.

World War I ended, and Fleming
would not give up his ‘odd ideas.’
Back in London, he began publishing
scientific papers on his discovery. 

But his lectures and papers evoked
little interest from fellow scientists.
He noted matter-of-factly, 'its importance......
does not seem to be generally appreciated.”

It would be near the end of the 20th century
before scientists recognised his achievement:
he had discovered and named the first
antimicrobial protein - part of our innate immunity.

This untidy man, seventh son of a 19th century
Scottish hill farmer, changed our world.
Fleming's former lab at St Mary's
is now the Alexander Fleming Museum.
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Mouldy Cantelopes have their day

When World War II broke out,
the British War Cabinet saw that penicillin
might be a useful new drug to treat
growing numbers of wounded troops.

They set up a committee of scientists 
and pharmaceutical companies [in their infancy] 
to find ways to mass produce and distribute it 
exclusively for Allied armed forces.

As the war with Germany continued,
the British scientists could not produce 
the quantities of penicillin needed 
for clinical trials on humans. 

They turned to the United States for help. 
In 1941, scientists of the Peoria, Illinois lab 
were already working on fermentation methods 
to increase the growth rate of fungal cultures. 

After a worldwide search, the answer was found
at home – a mouldy cantelope in a Peoria market.
When submerged in deep-vat conditions,
it produced the most penicillin. 

By D-Day 1944, they had enough penicillin
 to treat all of the wounded Allied troops.
Fleming was pleased, but warned the world
for the first time about antibiotic resistance.

Using too little, or for too short a time
Or without a proper diagnosis was dangerous.
“The thoughtless person playing with penicillin
Is morally responsible for the death of the man

who finally succumbs to infection
with the penicillin-resistant organism.
I hope this evil can be averted,” Fleming said,
if antibiotics are used properly.

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Glenda Cimino: Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Glenda starting writing poetry as a child, publishing her first poem at the age of 16. She has won awards for her poetry, haibun and haiku. She moved from Manhattan to Ireland in 1972, where she has had a chequered career as a social researcher, poetry publisher, journalist, editor, home carer, college disability assistant. Today she is a writer, poet, editor, actor, director, journalist, gestalt practitioner, tarot reader, traveller on this earth, and a citizen of the uni/multiverse. Her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and literary magazines in Ireland and the US.