Forbes November 22, 2025
Long before Alexander Fleming’s famous petri dish, ancient Egyptians had already started experimenting with rudimentary forms of antibiotics. According to medical papyri dating all the way back to around 1500 BC, they applied moldy bread directly to infected wounds. In other words, they’d developed their own practice in order to harness naturally occurring antimicrobial substances.
Despite how incredulous it may sound, this is precisely what early empirical medicine looked like. Although ancient physicians didn’t quite understand the bacteria they were using yet, their technique nevertheless hints at an experimental sophistication. Here’s how it echoes the foundations of today’s antibiotic therapy.
How Mold Became A Form Of Antibiotics In Ancient Egypt
As a 2023 article from the journal JCO Global Oncology...
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