My grandmother died at the age of 42,in 1935,of pneumonia due to no antibiotics...However...?

Question

Penicillin was discovered in 1928--why did it not become readily available then?
My grandma also was 8 months pregnant ,and the baby boy died too:*(

Answer 1

WW2 spurred the development and refinement of penicillin..before that it was experimental on a very small basis..I read one treatise that said without WW2 that particular drug wouldn't have been commonly available until the middle 1950's

Answer 2

Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928, and worked until 1940 to try to find a way to purify it. That was eventually done by someone else, and it was first used in 1942.

Sulfonamides were available to treat bacterial infections as early as 1932, but it wasn't until the late 1930's that use became widespread.

I'm including links that include a brief history of each.

Answer 3

Dear person. You answered your own question. In General George Washingtons time (our first President of this U.S) the average life span was 35YO. Soooo...today we don't tolerate any discomfort let alone death. We even have issues with someone who is terminally ill (no possible chance of any kind of decent life at this point) arranging their own death. At your mother's age at deatth at that time socioeconomics and medical science were still for the most part a lot about talk and little about action. Access to antiobiotics was in the infant stages in the main stream. Where did your grandmother live? If she lived in New York City then it would be more likely that she COULD have access to pcn. However, if she lived in So Podunk, Nowearsville, then not likely. The other issue is what was the agent that killed her. If it was a pneumococcal pneumonia then PCN would very likely have worked. But what if it was TB? What if it was viral. Did she smoke? Almost everyone smoked then. Did she have a congenital lung disease? Did she live right next to an industial plant? Did she work in a factory that used toxic chemicals?

You have a lot of research to do before this question can be answered

Have a great journey!

Answer 4

Even if penicillin was available, pneumonia can be caused by anything that infects the respiratory system - several types of bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Penicillin is only effective against certain types of bacteria. Pneumonia still kills a lot of people today.