PSAT Writing and Language Practice Test 25: Penicillin

Questions 2-6 refer to the following information.

Penicillin

In 1928, bacteriologist Dr. Alexander Fleming observed that a spot of mold had contaminated one of the glass plates on which he was growing a colony of bacteria. Since he did not discard the plate 2 immediately. He noticed that bacteria were flourishing everywhere on the plate except in the mold's vicinity. He decided to culture the 3 mold; and found that a broth filtered from it inhibited the growth of several species of bacteria. Nine years later, a team of scientists led by Howard Florey and Ernst Chain isolated the active antibacterial agent in Fleming's broth: penicillin. Florey and Chain went on to demonstrate that penicillin could cure bacterial infections in mice and in humans. Penicillin became a "miracle drug."

Since these discoveries, medical specialists have prescribed penicillin to effectively combat bacterial infections, but problems concerning usage of this antibiotic have begun to emerge. Some people are allergic to 4 penicillin. Though the number of those who are truly allergic is probably low. Side effects to the antibiotic are more frequent and include common reactions such as 5 nausea; rash; and vomiting; less-common reactions such as fever; wheezing; and irregular breathing; and rare, life-threatening reactions such as anaphylaxis and seizures. However, the most significant problem with penicillin usage is the increasing prevalence of bacteria that are becoming 6 penicillin-resistant, these bacteria cannot be effectively treated with current antibiotic strains. Despite these difficulties, careful penicillin administration will continue to save lives and reduce suffering from medical conditions.