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They've Got Bread Mold,
So Why Can't They Make
Penicillin?
Bob Gottlieb
The above is one of the more common questions asked by readers following the 1632 series, especially
those who are interested in the subject of disease and medicine. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer
to the question. There are thousands and thousands of different kinds of mold. True, a few of them
produce various effective medicines, like penicillin. But many are useless, even leaving aside those which
produce hallucinogens like LSD, or which are outright poisons. The process of isolating aspecific mold
that produces an antibiotic is expensive, time consuming, and severely constrained by the availability of
resources.
The purpose of this article is to give readers who lack technical education in the subject a general
overview of the problem. Let's begin by reviewing the major diseases which the characters in the 1632
series have to deal with.
Disease
There were a number of frequently fatal diseases sweeping across Europe during the Thirty Years War.
The two most devastating were bubonic plague and typhus. In addition, there was smallpox, syphilis,
influenza, tuberculosis, and any number of infections caused by wounds, badly stored food, and general
unsanitary conditions.
The most devastating disease during the second half of the war was bubonic plague, which is often
simply called "the plague." There are three forms of the disease:
" Bubonic itself, the most common form, is not usually transmitted from one person to another, and is
frequently fatal;
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" Septicemic, which is usually quickly fatal, often before plague symptoms even show, and is easily
spread if it reaches the lungs;
" Pneumonic, in which the infection starts in the lungs and spreads to anyone breathing nearby. This
version is almost always fatal, the sort of thing that gives Dr. James Nichols nightmares in the series.
Plague is caused by theYersinia pestis bacterium. It is usually spread by fleas, especially those found on
rats. Plague can be treated by many antibiotics, including sulfa drugs, but it is not affected by penicillin.
Modern vaccines are good for only about six months. (It is interesting to note a recent discovery that a
genetic mutation in some people that makes them resistant to plague also makes them resistant to AIDS.)
Prior to 1630, the most devastating disease during the Thirty Years War was probably typhus, also
called "gaol fever," "camp fever," and "the Hungarian disease." Typhus was spread from person to person
by body lice, common especially with armies. The disease probably caused far more deaths during the
Thirty Years War than the armies caused directly in the course of fighting battles. It devastated many
German cities.
Typhus is caused by a rickettsiae, a small kind of bacteria, with the specific nameRickettsia prowazekii
. It is fatal about one-third of the time, and more so in the sick and elderly. It is rapidly and effectively
treated by the antibiotics tetracycline or chloramphenicol, but not penicillin or sulfa drugs. It can be
prevented by getting rid of body lice, i.e., by sterilizing clothes, using insecticides, and bathing.
Smallpox was also endemic during this time period. It is caused by theVariola virus, and is spread only
by breath at close contact. It did not tend to spread as rapidly as the plague or typhus. Still, it was
frequently fatal, with no known treatment until Edward Jenner discovered that vaccinating with cowpox, a
very mild infection caused by theVaccinia virus, prevented the spread of the disease. It is not treatable
by antibiotics. Many of the people in Grantville who are over the age of forty will have some resistance to
smallpox due to childhood vaccination. They probably won't have enough resistance to prevent the
disease, but are likely to have enough to reduce its severity.
Syphilis was apparently a much more lethal disease several centuries ago than it is today. Spread mainly
by sexual contact, it killed half its victims after several years, many of them going insane before they died.
Syphilis is treatable at an early stage with penicillin and other antibiotics, but not sulfa drugs. The first
effective drug was called salvarsan, a fairly toxic mercury-based compound.
Tuberculosis, commonly referred to today as TB, is an infection that usually starts in the lungs. It is
bacterial in nature, and the airborne version mainly infects those who are sick or elderly. A different
version is spread from unpasteurized milk, and effects mostly children. Also called consumption, it
weakens its victims over time before often killing them. It is difficult to treat, but can be treated with
streptomycin, as well as some TB-specific drugs, such as isonazid.
Fortunately, the childhood version of the disease can be prevented by pasteurizing milk, a process which
will be rather quickly available in the 1632 context given the modern knowledge of the characters. But an
even simpler method which can be applied immediately is just to boil milk before using it. This is one of
those diseases which can be prevented by the application of simple prophylactic measures known to
modern medical science.
Staphylococcal bacteria often caused infections in wounds, as well as food poisoning. They are usually
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treatable with antibiotics. Streptococcal bacteria cause strep throat, as well as scarlet fever, in which the
infection reaches the blood stream and often infects the heart. It is also treatable by antibiotics.
Antibiotics
Today, there are a large number of antibiotics available to treat various kinds of infections. The reason
so many different antibiotics are needed is that the bacteria that cause the diseases mutate, or change, to
better survive in their environment. So while in the 1950s there were originally only half a dozen different
kinds such as penicillin, tetracycline, and streptomycin now there are many dozens, some of which
are no longer used because they don't work as well against today's mutated versions.
Almost all the antibiotics used today are initially grown from pure cultures of some mold or other
microorganism, and then slightly modified chemically to be more effective against newly resistant bacteria.
However, the first antibiotics were synthesized, chemically produced from simpler compounds. These
include sulfa drugs and chloramphenicol.
Equipment
It takes many steps to develop a usable antibiotic. This is called the "drug discovery process," and is
long, expensive, and labor-intensive.
As a start, consider the equipment needed for isolating a drug. This is probably the biggest problem in
finding an antibiotic in the setting of the 1632 series. Large quantities of supplies and equipment are
needed and there are no laboratory supply stores in Germany in the 1630s.
First, the characters in the series need something in which to grow cultures. Lots and lots of cultures:
thousands of them. They need something with a relatively flat bottom, because it will be filled with a [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]