When and where was penicillin discovered and what is it for?

The discovery of penicillin was a great advance in medicine since thanks to its use it was possible to end many deadly diseases. Let’s learn about the curious way in which penicillin was discovered and what it is for exactly. When and where was penicillin discovered and what it is for Penicillin is an antibiotic derived from the Penicillium fungus. A discovery that was made by Alexander Fleming, a British specialist in bacteriology. Fleming’s discovery dates from September 1928, although it was entirely accidental. It was on his return from the holidays that Dr Fleming found that in his London laboratory, his staph cultures had been contaminated by a microscopic fungus, Penicillium notatum, used in a nearby laboratory. This type of contamination is not uncommon, but before disposing of the crops that were unusable, he had an instinct to examine them carefully. He then realized that staphylococci did not develop close to the fungus, and he was able to hypothesize that the latter synthesized a substance that blocked the growth of the bacteria, naming it “penicillin.” Fleming published his discovery in 1929 and pointed out the causes. therapeutic possibilities that his finding could have. However, it took ten years for penicillin to be used as an antibiotic on a large scale. The use of penicillin Belonging to the beta-lactam family, penicillin is used to fight many bacteria, such as pneumococci, streptococci, meningococci, or the bacteria responsible for example for tetanus.Fleming’s finding was certainly a real revolution for medicine since, thanks to the use of penicillin, diseases that were deadly at that time could be treated (and even eradicated). This is the case, for example, of gonorrhea or scarlet fever. Over time, penicillin has become a benchmark for medicine but the truth is that the abuse of this as well as the production of it through synthetic derivatives has caused that The bacteria that can affect us are increasingly resistant, which is why new antibiotics with more powerful action on bacteria have now been derived, but also continue to work on the investigation of new mechanisms of action and other therapeutic alternatives in order to fully combat the most resistant bacteria that can affect our body.