Penicillin nontoxic in humans by first performing toxicity tests in animals and then on humans. His subsequent experiments on penicillin's response to heat and pH allowed Fleming to increase the stability of the compound. The one test that modern scientists would find missing from his work was the test of penicillin on an infected animal, the results of which would likely have sparked great interest in penicillin and sped its development by almost a decade. The importance of his work has been recognized by the placement of an International Historic Chemical Landmark at the Alexander Fleming Laboratory Museum in London on
Side effects of penicillin some are uncommon and serious and others are rare. The route of administration of penicillin can have an effect on the development of side effects. An example of this is irritation and inflammation that develops at a peripheral infusion site when penicillin is administered intravenously. In addition, penicillin is available in different forms. There are different penicillin medications (penicillin G benzathine, penicillin G potassium, Penicillin G sodium, penicillin G procaine, and penicillin V) as well as a number of β-lactam antibiotics derived from penicillin (e.g. amoxicillin) generally also referred to as "penicillin". Side effects may only last for a short