Talk:Penicillin

Staphylococcus Aureus

So staphylococcus Aureus is mentioned multiple times in this article, yet despite a few asides about Antistaphylococcal antibiotics the impression is strongly given that penicillin or beta lactams in general would be appropriate for treating staph. Case in point, under Bacterial Susceptibility, staph is included whereas especial mention is given to the fact that Neisseria may not be susceptible due to drug resistance.

Currently completing medicine and we've been told that penicillin is basically never appropriate for staph due to beta lactamase being present essentially 100% of the time (hence the anti-staphylococcal antibiotics), and yet conversely penicillin is still mostly okay for Neisseria.

Further reading suggests that the genetic uniquity of beta lactamase (due to being on a transposable element and intense selection pressure) had occurred by the late sixties. Anyway, so penicillin hasn't been appropriate for staph for almost 60 years, so I'm curious why this article gives the impression it is, and yet makes clear the much hazier resistance issues surrounding Neisseria.

Suggest edit for clarity, and unless a source is provided a redo of the susceptibility list to remove staph (include in the preamble if you wish). The susceptibility list I have suggests that the main ones for penicillin of clinical note are Strep, enterococci, Neisseria, and clostridium.

Cheers, Cyst11 (talk) 05:51, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for your note. The table was added in 2020 by [[Gak. It would be helpful if you could specify the source of your susceptibility list. Once you've made six more edits and been here for four days, you'll be able to edit this article directly. For help on this, see WikiProject Medicine and ask on its talk page. I probably won't be able to help directly though because I don't know much about this subject; I only have this article on my watchlist to deal with vandalism. Graham87 16:00, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in replying. It is true that Staph aureus should not be treated with penicillin empirically (before susceptibility is known), but it remains the drug of choice staph aureus is sensitive. If you feel that that is unclear, then happy for you to propose wording to ensure that this is clear. [1] Gak (talk) 19:08, 4 August 2023 (UTC)

Discovery

The antibiotic properties of penicillin had been researched for more than a decade in Clodomiro Picado's laboratory before Fleming's fortuitous "discovery." I ask that you please correct the information or at least add a comment making it clear that there are "two discoverers" of penicillin.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-53953810 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Consumer999 (talk • contribs) 21:53, 21 December 2023 (UTC)

That's why we have the article History of penicillin, where he's already mentioned. Adding him to this article would be undue weight per medical reliable sources. Graham87 (talk) 05:41, 22 December 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 6 May 2024

change description of penicillin's discovery to include words 'by chance'. the reference in support of this edit suggestion is: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5403050/ 49.181.238.198 (talk) 00:21, 6 May 2024 (UTC)

 Done Graham87 (talk) 14:08, 6 May 2024 (UTC)