Arsphenamine
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Arsphenamine, also known as Salvarsan or compound 606, is an antibiotic drug that was introduced at the beginning of the 1910s as the first effective treatment for the deadly infectious diseases syphi
Salvarsan treatment kit for syphilis, Germany, 1909–1912
Penicillin
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Penicillins are a group of β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from Penicillium moulds, principally P. chrysogenum and P. rubens. Eight species of Penicillium, in the section Chrysogena, produce
Arsphenamine
…in sealed vials under a nitrogen atmosphere to prevent oxidation. These arsenical compounds were supplanted as treatments for syphilis in the 1940s by penicillin. After leaving Ehrlich's laboratory, Hata continued parallel investigation of the new medicines in Japan…
Sample of penicillium mould presented by Alexander Fleming to Douglas Macleod, 1935
Howard Florey (pictured), Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 for their work on penicillin.
A lab technician spraying penicillin mould into flasks of corn steep liquor, England, 1943
A World War II-era poster from a construction site for a penicillin factory. A military grave emphasizes the site's importance, as penicillin was urgently needed in wartime.