Penicillin Overview The penicillins (pen-uh-SILL-ins) are a class of antibiotic compounds derived from the molds Penicillium notatum and Penicillium chrysogenum. The class contains a number of compounds with the same basic bicyclic structure to which...

One of the major advances of twentieth-century medicine is the discovery of penicillin. Penicillin is a member of the class of drugs known as antibiotics. These drugs either kill (bacteriocidal) or arrest the growth of (bacteriostatic) bacteria, fungi...

One of the major advances of twentieth-century medicine was the discovery of penicillin. Penicillin is a member of the class of drugs known as antibiotics. These drugs either kill or arrest (bacteriocidal or bacteriostatic effects, respectively) the...

The discovery of penicillin may be one of the greatest accidents in medical history. Penicillin, found in common molds, is a potent antibacterial medication. Its discovery opened the door to a variety of new "miracle drugs" that have saved the lives of...

Penicillin (sometimes abbreviated PCN) is a group of beta-lactam antibiotics used in the treatment of bacterial infections caused by susceptible, usually Gram-positive, organisms. “Penicillin” is also the informal name of a specific member of the...

People take too many antibiotics. So, it turns out, do cows and chickens. More than 50 years ago penicillin was hailed as a miracle drug because it treated illnesses and infections that had killed large numbers of people. Now, however, these wonder drugs are...

COUNTRYSIDE: I read Mary Garcia's article about goat pneumonia in the Jan/Feb 2001 issue. Mary gave the advice to give sick goats penicillin as soon as you notice anything unusual; however, I think it is important for the goat owner to monitor the...

A virtually eradicated disease that eats through people's skin, cartilage and bones is reappearing in Africa, Asia and South America, the World Health Organization warned Thursday.Yaws, which is triggered by bacterial infection and can cause debilitating deformations, particularly in children under 15, once affected 50...

“This is bad. This is really bad,” the surgeon told me. “You could lose your leg—or your life. I want you at the hospital in two hours for an operation.” I remember sitting on that cold examining table and looking at my infected knee. I’d...

Although penicillin was discovered in 1928, scientists did not begin to discover its many benefits until over a decade later. Ordered in mass quantities by the U.S. government as it entered World War II, penicillin was found to be an effective antibiotic for scarlet fever, syphilis, gonorrhea, diphtheria, rheumatic fever, and other diseases.