Antibiotics are chemical substances produced by fungi and bacteria that kill or slow the growth of bacteria. They are used as medicines to treat diseases caused by bacteria but not viruses. Professor Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, the first natural antibiotic, in 1928 at St. Mary's Hospital in London while experimenting with the Penicillium fungus. Antibiotics have disadvantages like secondary effects but their main advantage is that they cure diseases and have saved many lives by treating conditions that were often fatal before antibiotics were developed.