Penicillin storage. Army medical personnel during World War II in a ward sterilizing tent, with equipment used to sterilize instruments and a refrigerator used to store penicillin and vaccines. Both penicillin and vaccines degrade at room temperature, and are kept at lower temperatures to preserve them. Penicillin had been discovered in 1928, but was not widely used as an antibiotic until its mass production and use by the US Army in World War II. Use of penicillin by the US Army saved many thousands of lives during the war. Photographed on 26 June 1945, at the US Army's 8th Evacuation Hospital, 3rd Detachment, stationed at Lake Garda, Italy.