Penicillin - grow your own

Discussion in 'Survival Medicine' started by -06, Sep 17, 2010.


  1. -06

    -06 Monkey+++

    Survivalist: How To Treat Infections
    One of the very first horrors most of us will face after the collapse will be an almost total lack of medical aid and medicines. Many of us and our loved ones will sicken and die over things that wouldn't have even been considered serious before the fall. The main reason for this is the almost total ignorance of modern man about our ancestral medical remedies that, up until just 60 years ago, had been passed down since the dawn of time from generation to generation. Below I'm going to teach you how to make the most important of all medicines, penicillin. You should start making your own as soon as possible and get the art down and have some in stock because when someone needs it, you won't have time to grow what you need. You'll need to have it ready. Later on I'll teach you some of the other arts you'll need to know...

    Penicillin..The Oldest cure:
    Penicillin has been around a lot longer than people think. In fact the American Indians used it centuries before the white man ever ventured onto America's shores. Oh, they didn't have syringes and bottles, but they had something almost as good. When a member of the tribe caught an infection, the medicine man would go out in the unspoiled woods and look for a particular type of greenish-blue mold. He would bring a large chunk of this stuff back to camp, clean it, then plaster it over the cleaned wound, which he washed beforehand with pure mountain water. Wrapping the wound in a piece of hand woven cloth made by one of the squaws, he would order the inured warrior or child to leave the dressing alone and get a lot of rest. Within days the infection would be gone and the wound would begin to heal nicely. This was the earliest known use of penicillin...

    And although today most Americans couldn't tell a penicillium mold from a fungus, there are still easy ways to find and grow it for later use. This mold can be used either alive or dead. It doesn't kill the infection outright, but instead causes our body to boost its own immune system to the point it can kill whatever little beastie is eating on you. By exposing the body to penicillin, it reacts violently, assuming it's another critter out to attack it. This is a cry wolf that fools the body into creating more antibodies than it needs, which it then uses to kill the real infection. It was the first of the "wonder drugs" and is still one of the favorites in any good doctor's arsenal...

    Finding Penicillin:
    Believe it or not, that funky looking blue mold on that deli salami you bought is none other than penicillin! Most people peel that off their salami in disgust and toss it in the trash. That's a really dumb thing to do. Take that rind and keep it. Take a paring knife to it and scrape the mold off the peel and place it in a plastic container. Leave a piece of the meat in there with it to keep it alive. Puncture a small hole in the bottle so air can get in because penicillin is an aerobic bacteria, which means it needs air. That way, even after it eats up the meat and lies dormant, you will be able to revive the spores any old time you want by placing a small portion of it in with some more cured meal or damp bread or old cantaloupe, which is one of this particular mold's favorite foods. But always remember, even dead penicillin is good stuff. Never throw it out. It could save your life or the life of someone you love. Antibiotics are going to become as valuable as gold and as rare as chicken lips, so you'll have the market cornered.

    To mass produce the stuff, get you one of the following: Cantaloupe, black soil, corn mash with sugar added. Make sure whatever you use is damp, then place it in a large sealed container that has plenty of air in it. Leave a small hole though, because it will eventually use up the oxygen and need more. Place your containers in a warm, dark place and let the mold do its thing. Yeah, it looks nasty alright, but remember, this is the good mold. You can make sure it's penicillin by starting out with salami or cantaloupe mold, which are two mediums where only penicillin will grow. I've included a pic so you'll have an idea what to look for. Remember, this stuff is a life saver, so put up with the grossness and do what's necessary...


    How To Use It:
    The safest way is the old Indian way, which is by making a poultice or patch and applying it to the afflicted area. But if the infection is internal, you'll need to dry the stuff up, grind it to a powder, then feed it to whoever is sick. As far as dosage goes, I myself would use it by the gram. One gram twice a day, orally. I wouldn't try injecting it because it's not been processed and could cause more harm than good. If after two days you see no improvement, double the dose. If it fails to help after this, then it's something beyond penicillin's power.And with the introduction of so many third world toilet bugs into our beloved land, there's going to be some that nothing can help. But as a rule, penicillin is a life saver, so memorize what I've shown you here.
     
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  2. Penguin Zen

    Penguin Zen Monkey+

    Great Post Thank You sooo much. It kind funny I was just talking about this last week..
     
  3. gettingoldsucks

    gettingoldsucks Monkey+

    Really good information, thanks
     
  4. enough

    enough Monkey++

    ... call me a skeptic, but what other ways can you verify that it is the proper strain? Why would it be the only blue-green mold to grow on salami?

    While I think the premise is great, and could certainly be used when in a life and death situation, can we refine the technique and identification method?

    Not flaming here, just trying to improve on the original post...
     
    NotSoSneaky likes this.
  5. flavapor

    flavapor Monkey+

    If you thought you got the right kind of mold out in the woods, and didnt, would that be more harmful than good?
     
  6. rictus

    rictus Monkey+

    Now THIS is useful info, vary rare on survival forums to see such.
     
  7. Maxflax

    Maxflax Lightning in a bottle

    Beware.. penicillin can kill some people.. like me

    Also, it is like soda pop against super bugs. You are far better off with natural oils and cures
     
    Georgia_Boy and NotSoSneaky like this.
  8. -06; I've seen this post on several boards, but I have yet to see the original poster given credit. Every one contains that link to an image file that goes nowhere.

    The odds of a layyman isolating wild penicillium notatum and refining it into a useful antibiotic are exceptionally slim. This is due to Penicillin being a secondary metabolite of the fungus penicillium that is produced when growth of the fungus is inhibited by stress. It is not produced during active growth.

    The poultice method referenced is indeed part of folk medicine - but has never been evaluated as for efficacy. My belief is that this knowledge is unsupported and possibly dangerous rumor. I'm happy to be proven wrong, if someone can steer me to a reputable source that endorses this practice.
     
  9. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

    This is a really great thread and here is some more info. I would have to be desperate to try this but it is good info
    lots of articles here from doctors (allegedly) antibiotic Search Results - SurvivalBlog.com

    How to Make Antibiotics at Home | Collapse Medicine | Doom and Bloom (TM) | Doom and Bloom (TM)
    Let me say, once again, that this information is only for use in a post-collapse scenario, so don’t go and convert that meth lab of yours to an antibiotic factory. The practice of medicine without a license is illegal just about everywhere, and home laboratories are dicey legal subject matter.

    Penicillin is a by-product of the Penicillium fungus, but the thing is, it’s a by-product of a Penicillium fungus that’s under stress! So you have to grow the fungus, and then expose it to stresses that will make it produce Penicillin.
    First you need to produce a culture of the penicillium fungus. – A microbiological culture is a method of multiplying microscopic organisms by letting them reproduce in a certain environment under controlled conditions

    One of the most important things to know is that it is easy for other critters to contaminate your penicillium culture, so use sterile techniques at all times or you will likely wind up with something entirely different!

    Step 1

    Expose a slice of bread or citrus peel or a cantaloupe rind to the air at 70 deg. F until a bluish-green mold develops. Takes a few days….
    Cut two fresh slices of whole wheat bread into ½ inch cubes and place in a 750ml Erlenmeyer flask (the flask on the right in the above picture) with a non-absorbent plug. One thing you might not know is that a lot of bakeries put a substance called a mold inhibitor on bread. This stuff, which is called mycoban, is going to suppress the fungus, so you should probably use bread that you baked yourself. Sterilize the flask and contents in a pressure cooker for at least 15 minutes at 15 pounds. An alternate method is to place in an oven at 315 deg F for one hour.
    In a sterile fashion, transfer the fungus from the bread or fruit peel into the flask containing the bread cubes. Allow the cubes to sit in the dark at 70 deg F for 5 days. This is called incubation. That’s the easy part….

    Step 2 This is where it gets complicated….
    Prepare one liter of the following solution:
    Lactose Monohydrate 44.0 gm
    Corn Starch 25.0 gm
    Sodium Nitrate 3.0 gm
    Magnesium Sulfate 0.25 gm
    Potassium MonoPhosphate 0.50 gm
    Glucose Monohydrate 2.75 gm
    Zinc Sulfate 0.044 gm
    Manganese Sulfate 0.044 gm
    You’ll obviously need a scale that measures very small amounts, these are called gram scales and you can find them online. By the way, looking some of these ingredients up, I could find them at chemical supply houses, but they usually sell them in amounts of 500 gm or more.
    Anyhow, dissolve in the order I listed them in 500ml of cold tap water and then add more cold water to complete the liter.
    Adjust pH to 5.0-5.5 using HCL(hydrochloric acid). You’ll need a ph test kit, they sell them at pet shops and garden supply stores Fill containers with a quantity of this solution. Only use enough so that when the container is placed on its side the liquid will not touch the plug.
    Sterilize the containers (use glass) and solution in a pressure cooker or stove just like you did before. When it cools, scrape up about a tablespoon of the fungus from the bread cubes and throw it into the solution.
    Allow the containers to incubate on their sides at 70 deg F for 7 days. It’s important that they are not moved around. If you did it correctly, you’ll have Penicillin in the liquid portion of the media.Filter the mixture through a coffee filter or something similar, plug the bottles and refrigerate immediately.

    Step 3
    To extract the penicillin from the solution:
    Adjust the cold solution to pH 2.2 using ( .01 %) HCL. Mix it with cold ethyl acetate in a separatory funnel (that’s a funnel with a stopcock; you can find all these items at chemistry glass suppliers) and shake well for 30 seconds or so.
    Drain the ethyl acetate (which should be on the bottom) into a beaker which has been placed in an ice bath and repeat the process. Add 1% potassium acetate and mix. Now you want the ethyl acetate to evaporate off. This can be induced by a constant flow of air over the top of the beaker, say from a fan. When it dries, the remaining crystals are a mixture of potassium penicillin and potassium acetate.

    There you have it, you have put together a laboratory and made Penicillin! You are now officially a mad scientist! Seriously, After looking at all this a few times, I’m guessing that making Penicillin at home isn’t that workable, after all. However, it does make a point. If there’s a collapse, you know there is no way that anyone will be able to reliably produce antibiotics.

    So you can try to do all of the stuff I mentioned, or….you can google search “aquarium antibiotics” and buy fish-Pen (250mg) or Fish-Pen Forte (500mg) online. 100 tablets go for about 39.99 at the lower dose and 49.99 for the higher dose. Buy as much as you can afford, there is no prescription necessary. $400 will buy you 1000 tablets to save or to use for barter. It seems like a lot of money, but those antibiotics will be like gold in a collapse situation.
    It’s clear to me that every prepper should have a stockpile of antibiotics (several varieties) in their storage, and should learn what each one is used for. If you don’t want to buy fish medicine, at least grow plants that have some antibacterial action. Garlic has scientifically proven antibacterial properties. Other plants that are thought to be helpful would be calendula (a special type of marigold), goldenseal, cayenne pepper, eucalyptus and thyme.
    For more info, download Dr Bones and Nurse Amy Show #7 or look up my article on survivalblog.com from 7/28/10. (A doctor’s thoughts on antibiotics, expiration dates and TEOTWAWKI).


    Here’s the article link:

    http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/07/a_doctors_thoughts_on_antibiot.html


    Details on fish antibiotics for your fish
    So, You Bought Fish Antibiotics. Now What?, by TX ER DOC - SurvivalBlog.com
     
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  10. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

     
  11. Gopherman

    Gopherman Sometimes I Wish I Could Go Back to Sleep

    Go to your local Cattle feed store and look in their little Fridge.You will see huge Clear Vials of Ammox. Penecill. Keflex which is a powerful prophylactic wide spectrum anti-biotic, as well as powdered anti- biotics that can be taken orally. They are so much cheaper than what you pay at the doctors office. I think I paid $30 for a big A** vial of that stuff and still have 1/2 left over. If I was really sick I would definitely take the Keflex right out the gate, for less dramatic use I would try other milder antibiotics first. In any case this book is a must have for .95c you cant beat the price!
    Infectious Diseases: A Clinicians Guide to Current Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention: David C. Dale: 9780970390264: Amazon.com: Books
    Then ask them for the Syringes which they also sell in bulk. When I treated my Goats for an eye infection I gave the 10cc for every 50 Lbs of body wieght.
    I would assume that would also hold true for Humans. We treated all our goats twice a day for three days and the infections went away.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2015
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  12. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    You assume a lot on Doseage.... One would be better off to get a PDR (Physicians Desk Reference) and not guess on Human Doseages... Also be VERY Mindful of Allergies, in yourself, and your patients. AntiBiotics are nothing to mess with, without a lot in your Knowledge Base....
     
  13. Gopherman

    Gopherman Sometimes I Wish I Could Go Back to Sleep

    Very valid point! I completely agree about the dosage reference guides,
    Physicians' Desk Reference, 66th Edition: 9781563638077: Medicine & Health Science Books @ Amazon.com
    Thanks for the reminder! I just bought it. I found a source book once and meant to buy it, don't remember why I didn't.
    I was actually shocked when I saw them there in bulk like that. I bought a few bottles of fish and Bird anti's. just for emergency in my BOB, these good old boys down here are serious about their animals, at $1,500 a head and up for cattle!
    I merely state, in an emergency (SHTF) that's what I would have to do, otherwise I go to the Dr. Just going on the fact it didn't kill any of my goats at that dose and some were pretty young.
    Different anti-b. would also have different dosages, as well as effectiveness on different illnesses.
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2015
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  14. Georgia_Boy

    Georgia_Boy Monkey+++

    @Maxflax +1000. I had been administered penicillin and its derivatives for over 50 years. Three years ago I nearly died from an adverse reaction to a normal low dose of penicillin. I will not bore you with the details. It has been a miracle cure like aspirin but be aware that troubling reactions can occur anytime.....
    GB
     
  15. pearlselby

    pearlselby Monkey++


    This is the PDR we have too. I also have a nurses medical pill guide. Thanks!
     
  16. Ganado

    Ganado Monkey+++

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