The use of penicillin in Japan

I went down a rabbit hole today while reading information about penicillin use in Japan. The reason I was reading about penicillin is because today, and February 12th annually, is Penicillin Day (ペニシリンの日) in Japan. It marks the anniversary of the first successful clinical trial of penicillin, that transformed Alexander Fleming's 1928 accidental discovery into a practical medical breakthrough.

One of the most interesting things I happened upon in this quest for knowledge, is that it is widely reported that during the war, medical personnel in Japan engaged in the desperate, yet effective, practice of recycling penicillin from the urine of patients. Cut off from the Allied Powers and limited in the amount and speed with which they could cultivate mold to create penicillin, they resorted to extracting it from the urine of patients within a few hours of them receiving penicillin. 

The antibiotic proved indispensable during World War II, saving countless soldiers from infections that had once been fatal. After the war, domestic production expanded in Japan. In modern Japanese medicine, penicillin‑type antibiotics are still prescribed, but they’re no longer the universal “miracle drug” they once were. Newer generations of antibiotics are more widely used. Penicillin is still part of the toolkit, so to speak, but used strategically, not routinely.