The role of the media in influencing public attitudes to penicillin during World War II
Shama, Gilbert (Loughborough University. Department of Chemical Engineering)

Fecha:	2015
Resumen:	Penicillin's trajectory towards becoming an effective antibacterial chemotherapeutic agent took place during World War II. Its strategic military value was immediately recognised by the Allies, and mass production was undertaken with the prime objective of meeting the needs of the armed forces. News of its development came to be widely reported on in the media and is examined here. These reports frequently combined accounts of penicillin's prodigious clinical effectiveness with the fact that it was to remain unavailable to the civilian population essentially until the war had ended. More penicillin was to be made available to the civilian population in the United States than in Britain, but the sense that it was severely rationed remained as high. It was in response to this that the idea of «homemade penicillin» was hatched. News of this was also widely promulgated by both the British and American media. Although the numbers treated with penicillin produced in this way was never to be significant, knowledge of the existence of such endeavours may have served to assuage in some measure the feelings of frustration felt by the civilian population at penicillin's non-availability.
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Materia:	Penicillin ; World War II ; Radio broadcasts ; Press reports ; Homemade penicillin ; Vivicillin ; Penicilina ; II Guerra Mundial ; Radio ; Prensa ; Penicilina casera ; Vivicilina
Publicado en:	Dynamis : Acta Hispanica ad Medicinae Scientiarumque. Historiam Illustrandam, Vol. 35 Núm. 1 (2015) , p. 131-152, ISSN 2340-7948

Adreça alternativa: https://raco.cat/index.php/Dynamis/article/view/288965
DOI: 10.4321/S0211-95362015000100006

22 p, 163.7 KB

El registro aparece en las colecciones:
Artículos > Artículos publicados > Dynamis
Artículos > Artículos de investigación