Sulfa drugs, developed in the 1930s, were the first medications effective against bacterial disease. They appeared as the first "miracle drugs" at a time when death from bacterial infections such as pneumonia and blood poisoning was common.

In 1932, German physician and biomedical researcher Gerhard Domagk was working on a project for the German industrial giant I. G. Farbenindustrie to test industrial chemicals for medical utility. One of the chemicals was a dye called Prontosil, or sulfamidochrysoidine. Domagk hypothesized that since the dye worked by binding to the proteins in fabric and leather, it might also bind to the proteins in bacteria, thus inhibiting their action. Experiments on laboratory animals infected with streptococcus were promising, and were soon followed by successful clinical tests.

In 1936, Prontosil was successfully used against puerperal sepsis, or "childbed fever," which was killing thousands of mothers every year. It was also shown to...