Penicillin was discovered in 1928 by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming. People began using it to treat infections in 1942. There are several enhanced penicillin families which are effective against additional bacteria; these include the antistaphylococcal penicillins, aminopenicillins and the antipseudomonal penicillins. They are derived from "Penicillium" fungi. The term "penicillin" is often used generically to refer to benzylpenicillin (penicillin G, the original penicillin found in 1928), procaine benzylpenicillin (procaine penicillin), benzathine benzylpenicillin (benzathine penicillin), and phenoxymethylpenicillin (penicillin V). Procaine penicillin and benzathine penicillin have the same antibacterial activity as benzylpenicillin but act for a longer period of time. Phenoxymethylpenicillin is less
History of penicillin Regional Research Laboratory (NRRL) in Peoria, Illinois, United States, developed methods for industrialized penicillin production and isolated higher-yielding strains of the "Penicillium" fungus. In December 1942, survivors of the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston were the first burn patients to be successfully treated with penicillin. Simultaneous research by Jasper H. Kane and other Pfizer scientists in Brooklyn developed the practical, deep-tank fermentation method for production of large quantities of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin. Dorothy Hodgkin determined the correct chemical structure of penicillin using X-ray crystallography at Oxford in 1945. In Kundl, Tyrol, Austria, in 1952, Hans Margreiter and Ernst Brandl of Biochemie