The Circulation of Penicillin in Spain : Health, Wealth and Authority

This book reconstructs the early circulation of penicillin in Spain, a country exhausted by civil war (1936–1939), and oppressed by Franco’s dictatorship. Embedded in the post-war recovery, penicillin’s voyages through time and across geographies – professional, political and social – were both material and symbolic. This powerful antimicrobial captivated the imagination of the general public, medical practice, science and industry, creating high expectations among patients, who at times experienced little or no effect. Penicillin’s lack of efficacy against some microbes fueled the search for new wonder drugs and sustained a decades-long research agenda built on the post-war concept of development through scientific and technological achievements. This historical reconstruction of the social life of penicillin between the 1940s and 1980s – through the dictatorship to democratic transition – explores political, public, medical, experimental and gender issues, and the rise of antibiotic resistance. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Introduction: The West, Spain and the Early Circulation of Penicillin (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 1-22 Fleming in Spain: The Hero, the Icon and the Politics of Public Acclaim (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 23-47 Manufacturing Penicillin: Industrial Policy, Gender and the Antibiotic Factory (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 49-81 Smuggling: The Management of Scarcity and Trade of Penicillin as a Post-War Commodity (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 83-105 Modern Times: Screening Antibiotics and the Factory Line (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 107-131 A Promising Drug: Bacteria, Antibiotics and Marketing in an Era of Economic Development (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 133-162 Beyond Healing: Antibiotic Resistance and Regulatory Regimes as Agents in the Spanish Transition to Democracy (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 163-184 Penicillin in Spain, 1940s–1980s: Circulating Health, Research and Gender (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 185-204 Final Reflections (María Jesús Santesmases)....Pages 205-207 Back Matter ....Pages 209-239 This book reconstructs the early circulation of penicillin in Spain, a country exhausted by civil war (1936-1939), and oppressed by Franco s dictatorship. Embedded in the post-war recovery, penicillin s voyages through time and across geographies - professional, political and social - were both material and symbolic. This powerful antimicrobial captivated the imagination of the general public, medical practice, science and industry, creating high expectations among patients, who at times experienced little or no effect. Penicillin s lack of efficacy against some microbes fueled the search for new wonder drugs and sustained a decades-long research agenda built on the post-war concept of development through scientific and technological achievements. This historical reconstruction of the social life of penicillin between the 1940s and 1980s - through the dictatorship to democratic transition - explores political, public, medical, experimental and gender issues, and the rise of antibiotic resistance