Ignaz Semmelweiss: The hand washer
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Lindsey Fitzharris tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweiss, the hand washer. In a world that had no understanding of germs, he tried to apply science to halt the spread of infection. Ignaz Semmelweis observed that many young medical students at his hospital in Vienna went directly from an autopsy, still covered in contaminated dead flesh, to attend pregnant women. Could this be the reason for such high maternal mortality rates from conditions like puerperal fever? Believing that the disease was caused by \\u201cinfective material\\u201d from a dead body, Semmelweiss set up a basin filled with chlorinated lime solution in his hospital and began saving women\\u2019s lives with three simple words: \\u2018wash your hands\\u2019. He was demonised by his colleagues for his efforts, but today, he is known as the \\u201cSaviour of Mothers.\\u201d
Lindsey Fitzharris discusses some of the common myths surrounding the story of Semmelweiss with Dr Barron H. Lerner of New York University Langone School of Medicine. And she talks to Professor Val Curtis, Director of the Environmental Health Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who has studied the amount of hand washing by medical staff in hospitals today.
Picture: Victorian boy washing his hands in a stream, Credit: whitemay
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