Most of the microorganism that produce medically useful antibiotic are molds and bacteria that live in the soil. Antibiotics are sometimes called wonder drugs or miracle drugs because of their wonderful power to destroy disease germs quickly, or to stop germs from growing.
Antibiotics rank among the most important of all life saving drugs today.
They serve as the doctor's best weapons against pneumonia, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, syphilis, scarlet fever, bone infections, dysentery, and many other serious diseases. Hundreds of different antibiotics have been discovered, but most of them have proved unsuitable for medical use. Some antibiotics are not active enough against disease germs. Some work well in test types, but quit working when taken into the human body. At first, only small amounts of antibiotics could be produced at one time.