Penicillin antibiotics are a group of antibacterial substances produced by a fungal culture of the genus Penicillium. Today they are an effective means of chemotherapy and antibiotic therapy. Just like cephalosporins, penicillin antibiotics belong to the category of beta-lactam drugs. With a strong bactericidal effect and a high degree of activity against gram-positive microorganisms, they have a fast and extremely powerful effect, affecting pathogenic bacteria mainly in the proliferation phase.
A characteristic feature of this group of drugs is their ability to penetrate into living cells and have a neutralizing effect on the pathogens that have settled inside them. This feature makes cephalosporin antibiotics related to penicillins, in comparison with which they have a slightly greater resistance to beta-lactamases, special protective enzymes produced by pathogens.
The discovery of penicillin by the efforts of the English microbiologist Alexander Fleming in1929 produced one of the greatest revolutions in medicine. It became possible to effectively treat many diseases that had been considered fatal for centuries - for example, pneumonia. And the role of penicillin in the Second World War is generally grandiose and worthy of a separate scientific study.
For the first time, the ideas of searching for a substance that has a detrimental effect on microorganisms, but is completely safe for humans, were formulated and implemented at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries by the founder of chemotherapy, Paul Ehrlich. Such a substance, according to his apt remark, is like a "magic bullet." Such chemical compounds were soon found among the derivatives of some synthetic dyes. Having received the name "chemotherapy", they have become widely used in the treatment of syphilis. And although they were very far from modern penicillins in terms of effectiveness and safety, they were the first harbingers of antibiotic therapy in the modern view.
Current penicillin antibiotics demonstrate the highest efficiency against anaerobic microorganisms. This is especially true of the so-called superpenicillins (azlocillin, piperacillin, mezlocillin and others), as well as third-generation cephalosporins, which are often used to prevent possible postoperative complications. Today, powerful antibiotics of the penicillin group are used to treat children, pregnant women, the elderly, patients suffering from kidney failure andvarious types of acute nonspecific epididymitis.
Despite all the achievements of modern pharmacology and the relative perfection of penicillin drugs, Paul Ehrlich's cherished dream of an "ideal magic bullet" is unlikely to ever be realized, since even table s alt in excessive quantities is harmful. What can we say about such powerful and dangerous drugs as penicillin antibiotics! The side effects of these antibacterial agents should include the possibility of developing various allergic, toxic reactions and disruption of the gastrointestinal tract.
