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 and subsequently concentrated what he later named "penicillin". During the next twelve years, Fleming grew and distributed the original mold, which was eventually identified as "Penicillium notatum" (now known as "Penicillium chrysogenum"). He was unsuccessful in making a stable form of it for mass production. Cecil George Paine, a pathologist at the Royal Infirmary in Sheffield, attempted to treat sycosis (eruptions in beard follicles) with penicillin but was unsuccessful, probably because the drug did not penetrate deep enough. Moving on to ophthalmia neonatorum, a gonococcal infection in babies, he achieved the first cure on 25 November 1930. He cured four