suffered from epidemic levels of tuberculosis diphtheria typhoid fever and meningitis with no access to a drug that could have treated them thousands died. in the mean time alexander fleming experienced a personal triumph in october one thousand nine hundred forty five just a few months after the end of the second world war in europe he was awarded the nobel prize for medicine together with his oxford colleagues howard florey and ernst boris cheney. without intense pressure from the military and the exceptional circumstances of the war economy the breakthrough would have taken longer than it did. well i will. help many.