Hitler's penicillin

Perspect Biol Med. 2004 Spring;47(2):189-98. doi: 10.1353/pbm.2004.0037.

Abstract

During the Second World War, the Germans and their Axis partners could only produce relatively small amounts of penicillin, certainly never enough to meet their military needs; as a result, they had to rely upon the far less effective sulfonamides. One physician who put penicillin to effective use was Hitler's doctor, Theodore Morell. Morell treated the Führer with penicillin on a number of occasions, most notably following the failed assassination attempt in July 1944. Some of this penicillin appears to have been captured from, or inadvertently supplied by, the Allies, raising the intriguing possibility that Allied penicillin saved Hitler's life.

Publication types

  • Biography
  • Historical Article

MeSH terms

  • Famous Persons*
  • Germany
  • History, 20th Century
  • Humans
  • National Socialism
  • Penicillins*
  • Warfare

Substances

  • Penicillins

Personal name as subject

  • Adolph Hitler