Lawmakers celebrate Illinois' role in distribution of penicillin
SPRINGFIELD – Lawmakers gathered Tuesday at the University of Illinois Springfield to designate a new state microbe and add agriculture sciences to the list of courses that fulfill admissions requirements at state universities.
Penicillium rubens NRRL 1951, which yields the antibiotic penicillin, was designated as the official state microbe in House Bill 1879, which Gov. JB Pritzker signed Tuesday.
While the first mold spore that produces penicillin was discovered in Europe in 1928, the National Center for Agriculture Utilization in Peoria, known as the Ag Lab, was the site of the penicillium rubens discovery in the 1940s which allowed for speedier production of the antibiotic used to treat several infections.
Peoria Democrat Sen. Dave Koehler, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, noted penicillin’s contribution to halting bacterial infections such as gangrene in soldiers wounded in World War II.
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