Penicillin helps treat infectious diseases.
Penicillin was the first antibiotic discovered and it is used to treat bacterial diseases. Treating diseases is very important so that those infected with bacterial diseases such as pneumonia do not suffer. According to "Senior Living", in 1920, before penicillin was discovered, the life expectancy was 54 years. In 1950, once penicillin was being used frequently, the life expectancy was 67 years. This is a 13 year difference in peoples life expectancy. Penicillin was part of that extension. People were less likely to die of bacterial diseases such as scarlet fever and pneumonia. This broke a large barrier in history. The ability to be able to treat infectious diseases that were ending peoples' lives, would then expand them to let the infected live longer. Doctors were able to treat these bacterial infections and keep people alive for an average of an extra 13 years over the course of their life. In the article, "Britannica School Penicillin" it says, "Penicillins are used in the treatment of throat infections, meningitis, syphilis, and various other infections." These were very dangerous diseases until the invention of Penicillin. After Penicillin was discovered and purified these diseases were much less deadly and much easier to cure.
Penicillin was referred to as the "magic bullet" because it was a small pill that could kill bacteria and would not harm the person the bacteria was in. It was a large barrier breaker in the 20th century for there to be a medicine that could cure so many different infectious diseases. In the article from "Science Direct" it explains how penicillin works. “He found that the cell metabolites were able to lyse (to cause dissolution or destruction of cells by lysins.) and dissolve the cell wall of the microorganisms.” The fungus was able to break down the cell wall of the bacteria so it was able to attack the bacteria.
"Bacteria that attempt to grow and divide in the presence of penicillin fail to do so, and instead end up shedding their cell walls"
In conclusion, Penicillin's ability to treat bacterial infections was a large broken barrier in the 1900's. The barrier on medicine was very large because the old type of medicine in the 18th century was much less science based. This completely revolutionized the medical industry.