Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin, in 1927. Since then, antibiotics – drugs that fight bacterial infections - have saved millions of lives worldwide.
The term “antibiotic” refers to both natural and synthetic compounds that destroy or inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria that cause disease in humans or animals. Patients sometimes ask their doctors for antibiotics to treat a cold, cough, or the flu, each of which is viral and does not respond to antibiotics. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses.
