The pioneers of antibiotics and how they transformed treatments

The discovery of penicillin and other antibiotics has transformed how bacterial infections are treated. Miracle Cure: The Story of Penicillin and the Golden Age of Antibiotics recounts the historical background of antibiotic discoveries, which have resulted in the numerous antibiotics available today. The author discusses the folk medicine remedies once used to treat infections and includes an update on developments in antibiotic research - with highlights on their use in the treatment of cancer and AIDS.

Dr Wainwright is Senior Lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Sheffield, where he teaches Mycology and Environmental Microbiology. His research interests include studies of the ecology and physiology of fungi and the history of microbial antagonism and the discovery of antibiotics. He obtained his BSc in 1971 and his Ph.D in 1974, both from the University of Nottingham, and spent a short period in Canada as a National Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellow before taking up his present position at Sheffield. In 1984 with a colleague, Harold Swan, he discovered records of the first clinical use of penicillin, and he is currently actively researching the neglected role of Albert Schatz in the discovery of streptomycin. He is married with a daughter aged eight and a son aged five.