Why was the invention of penicillin so important in the context of World War 2?

Answer 1

Penicillin helped fight the infections of the wounds of the soldiers, In the British Army it was normal for it to take up to fourteen hours, this period of time would allow a wound to intensify. With the use of a penicillin dressing, the chance of a wound getting infected was vastly reduced and survival chances greatly increased. It It contributed to 95% recovery rate for wounded Allied soldiers. - KR.

Answer 2

It prevented many deaths from disease.

For one thing, the Allies had access to penicillin and the Germans didn't. They were still manufacturing and using sulfa drugs to combat infections in soldiers with battlefield wounds (and STDs in soldiers who were active off the battlefield as well).

More specifically, the use of penicillin changed the way that wounded soldiers were triaged, which ultimately resulted in many more soldiers not only receiving curative (rather than palliative) treatment for their wounds, bit also their ability to return to the battlefield sooner.

Prior to the use of penicillin on the wounds, doctors in the field hospitals would triage by going quickly through the line of soldiers brought in by medical convoy, removing dressings to look for the "clean" wounds, with no sign of infection, and treat them first, as they had the best chance for survival/ return to the battlefield.

Once wounded soldiers began receiving penicillin on the battlefield, the surgeons realized they could wait until the soldier was on the operating table to inspect and treat the wound, as battlefield dose of penicillin kept the soldier's condition from deteriorating due to infection.

Once on the operating table, the doctors just cleaned the wound, removed any foreign objects, sprinkled the wound with penicillin powder and stitched it up. The soldier would then be sent to recuperate by receiving wound care and regular penicillin injections.

As a comparison, penicillin wasn't available for the first couple years of the war. Once it became available, however, the occurrence of gangrene in wounded soldiers dropped to approximately 1.5 cases per thousand, with about 50% less deaths than in the years without penicillin.

Answer 3

it is a major biotic