Timeline of antibiotics

Have you ever had a really bad cold or infection that made you feel sick? Well, grown-ups can get sick too and sometimes they need special medicine called antibiotics to get better.

A long, long time ago, people didn't have antibiotics so when they got sick, they had to wait and hope they would get better by themselves or they would use natural things like honey or plants to help them feel better. But sometimes, these natural things didn't work and many people would get very sick and even die from simple infections like a cut or a scratch.

Then, in the 1800s, some scientists discovered that there were tiny living things called bacteria that could make people very sick. They also found out that some chemicals could kill certain types of bacteria. The first antibiotics were made from natural sources like mold and were discovered by accident when scientists noticed that some mold was stopping bacteria from growing.

In the 1900s, scientists started looking for more antibiotics and they found different types that could kill many different types of bacteria. This was really important because it meant that more people could be saved from being sick and dying from infections.

But, as more and more people started using antibiotics, some bacteria became resistant to them which meant that the antibiotics no longer worked. This is why doctors are very careful about giving antibiotics and only give them when someone really needs them.

Now, scientists are still looking for new antibiotics and ways to make them more effective so that everyone can stay healthy and happy.