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Penicillin, substance named this because the fungal contaminant was identified as Penicillium notatum. The antibacterial effect of penicillin was first discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1929. With its interesting mode of action, Penicillin prevents the cross-linking of small peptide chain in peptidoglycan, the main wall polymer of bacteria. This simple antibiotic has surely made its mark and continues to do so all around the world. Penicillin has helped, enriched and saved the lives of many; however, its effectiveness may have ran its course. Penicillin, any one of a group of antibiotics derived from the fungus Penicillium or created by using partially artificial processes. The action of natural penicillin was first observed in 1928 by British bacteriologist Sir Alexander Fleming, but another ten years passed before penicillin was concentrated and studied by British biochemist Ernst Chain, British pathologist Sir Howard Florey, and other scientists. Penicillin acts both by killing bacteria and by inhibiting their growth. It does not kill organisms in the resting stage but only those growing and reproducing. Penicillin is effective against a wide range of disease-bearing microorganisms, including pneumococci, streptococci, gonococci, meningococci, the clostridium that cause tetanus, and the syphilis spirochete. The drug has been successfully used to treat such deadly diseases as endocarditis, septicemia, gas gangrene, gonorrhea, and scarlet fever. Toxic symptoms produced by penicillin are limited largely to allergic reactions that can be anticipated by the use of scratch tests before administration of the drug. In 1980 a group of physicians announced that they had successfully desensitized several penicillin-allergic patients with a procedure that took only three hours; tests of the method on a wider scale were instituted.
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