The Soviet Wonder Drug that Beat Penicillin

Gramicidin S was one of the earliest, and most groundbreaking antibiotics ever developed. The product of a war torn Europe, Gramicidin S was discovered around the same time as Penicillin, and much like its more well known counterpart, saved countless lives during WWII.

Throughout both World Wars, the infection of wounds was a major condition and major killer. While the first World War was without any effective treatment for infections (and thus had massive casualties due to disease), such treatments began to be developed during the second World War. Antibiotics, drugs that directly target disease causing bacteria, were a gamechanger which saved countless lives both on and off the battlefield. While western scientists worked on Penicillin, the Soviets would quickly develop their own antibiotic known as Gramicidin S. Gramicidin S proved incredibly effective in the treatment of external wounds, and while it lacked internal applications, it nonetheless saved countless lives for the Soviets during WWII.

The development of Gramicidin S was nothing short of a miracle, both for its incredible curative effects, but also due to the bizarre scientific climate of the Soviet Union during its early years. One of the USSR's leading scientific figures, Trofim Lysenko, instituted an absurd, ascientific view of the world over the Soviet scientific community, dubbed "Lysenkoism." While this political doctrine suppressed much of Soviet biology and genetics, the developers of Gramicidin S were given free reign to pursue their research due to the sheer importance of the drug. Thanks to this, the USSR was able to actually develop their own antibiotics, and maintain some semblance of medicine in their country.

Check out @That_Chemist's vid here: https://youtu.be/M4jYisMugWk

Sources:

1) The Local Use of Sulfonamide Drugs; G. Crile Jr.; 1943.
2) The History of Antibiotics. A Symposium; American Institute of the History of Pharmacy; 1980.
3) The Discovery of Gramicidin S: the Intellectual Transformation of G. F. Gause from Biologist to Researcher of Antibiotics and on its Meaning for the Fate of Russian Genetics; Y. M. Gall, M. B. Konashev; 2003.
4) Gramicidin S and its Use in the Treatment of Infected Wounds; G. F. Gause, M. G. Brazhnikova; 1944.
5) Nonlamellar Phases Induced by the Interaction of Gramicidin S with Lipid Bilayers. A Possible Relationship to Membrane-Disrupting Activity; E. J. Prenner, R. N. A. H. Lewis, K. C. Neuman, S. M. Gruner, L. H. Kondejewski, R. S. Hodges, R. N. McElhaney; 1997.
6) The Perversion Of Knowledge: The True Story Of Soviet Science; V. J. Birstein; 2002.

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Music used: https://pastebin.com/wPJRTJsN

Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:41 - WWII
2:32 - Georgy Gause and Gramicidin S
4:48 - Limitations of Gramicidin S
6:22 - Lysenkoism
9:31 - Gramicidin S in the Modern Era
10:09 - Outro

Thanks:
Arisu
Joey
Walter
Brett
Vinguin
Daga
Kalani
CTO

#antibiotics #ussr #sovietunion

This video is an opinion and in no way should be construed as statements of fact. All references, articles, and posts come from publicly available websites, forums, and documents, and are linked in the description. Any errors or inaccuracies should be thought of as accidental and unintentional.

Видео The Soviet Wonder Drug that Beat Penicillin канала Ciggy Snake