Description

The term antibiotic appeared as early as 1928 in the French microbiological literature as antibiosis. The phenomenon of antagonism between living organisms was frequently observed even since 1877, when Pasteur and Joubert noticed that aerobic bacteriaantagonized the growth of Bacillus anthracis. However, the world in its present restrictive meaning, a chemical substance derived from microorganisms, which has the capacity of inhibiting growth and even destroying other organisms in dilute solutions was introduced by Selman and Waksman in 1942. In 1940 Waksman had forecasted, We are finally approaching a new field of domestication of microorganisms for combating the microbial enemies of man of his domesticated plants and animals. Surely microbiology is entering a new phase of development.During the 1960s, the phase of discovery of antibacterials slackened, but efforts were then made to research also for antifungal, antimycoplasmal, antispirochetal, antiprotozoal, antitumor, antivirual and antiphage compounds, as well as for antibiotics for non-medical uses such as antioxidants.