Forgotten medical genius finally gets his 鈥榬evenge鈥
Print Edition
It鈥檚 not an uncommon fate for a pioneering scientist: languishing unrecognized in his time before dying in obscurity. But as his 200th birthday approaches, the life-saving work of a Hungarian obstetrician is finally getting its due.
Decades before Louis Pasteur won widespread acceptance for the germ theory of disease, Ignac Semmelweis was battling his peers to accept what is today medical orthodoxy 颅鈥 doctors should thoroughly disinfect their hands before treating patients.
Born on July 1, 1818, Semmelweis joined the obstetrics department of Vienna鈥檚 general hospital in 1846 and was immediately struck by the extremely high maternal mortality rate in the wing where student doctors trained: It stood at more than 10 percent, at times going up to almost 40 percent.
By contrast, in the neighboring wing where midwives trained, the rate stayed under the contemporary average of 3 percent.
鈥淭his disparity troubled Semmelweis enormously and he started a thorough epidemiological study,鈥 said Bernhard Kuenburg, president of Vienna鈥檚 Semmelweis Foundation.
In 1847, the penny dropped when a colleague died of septicaemia after carrying out an autopsy: Semmelweis surmised that dead bodies must hold invisible but potentially deadly 鈥減articles.鈥
鈥淎t the time, medical students went directly from an autopsy to assist with a labor without disinfecting their hands,鈥 Kuenburg said.
With soap not being enough to fix the problem, Semmelweis imposed a more rigorous regime of hand-washing for five minutes with a harsh chlorinated lime solution.
With this 鈥渧ery simple method,鈥 Semmelweis slashed the mortality rate 鈥渢o almost zero,鈥 Kuenburg says.
But instead of plaudits, Semmelweis suffered the wrath of the grandees of Vienna鈥檚 medical fraternity and in 1849 his contract was not renewed.
鈥淭he self-estimation of the doctors was very high back at this time. Of course they were offended because they didn鈥檛 like the idea that they were guilty of causing this terrible mortality rate,鈥 Kuenburg said.
Moreover, it would still be a quarter of a century before Pasteur was finally able to prove the existence of 鈥渕icrobes.鈥
Other doctors demanded evidence, according to Kuenburg.
鈥淭hey said: 鈥楴o, Semmelweis cannot be right. He cannot show us the pathogens so something is fishy with this theory.鈥欌
And Semmelweis鈥檚 fiery disposition and lack of tact didn鈥檛 help 鈥 he did not shrink from calling colleagues 鈥渒illers.鈥
Toward the end of his life, his mental health deteriorated and he died in an asylum in 1865 at the age of 47.
100 deaths a day in the EU
At the end of the 19th century, Semmelweis鈥檚 reputation began to be rehabilitated after the discoveries of Pasteur, Robert Koch and Alexandre Yersin bore out his theories.
In 1924, the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Celine dedicated a medical thesis to him and hailed him as a 鈥済enius.鈥
Today he is considered the father of modern theories of hospital hygiene and sterilization.
But even though disinfecting hands is accepted as common sense for medical personnel, the practice still isn鈥檛 as systematic as it should be, according to Professor Didier Pittet, an infection control expert at the World Health Organization.
Worldwide, the practice is only adhered to 鈥渋n 50 percent of cases on average, even though it can prevent 50 to 70 percent of hospital infections,鈥 he said.
Some 3.2 million people are affected annually by hospital-acquired infections within the EU, resulting in 100 deaths every day.
鈥淒isinfecting the hands with an alcohol solution is cheap and simple and has an immediate impact on infection rates,鈥 including for multi-resistant organisms, Pittet said.
Despite this, 鈥渋t鈥檚 an act which isn鈥檛 taken seriously enough, notably by doctors themselves,鈥 Pittet said, adding that some seem to think worrying about sterilizing their hands is somehow beneath them.
However, the WHO鈥檚 鈥淐lean Care is Safer Care鈥 campaign, launched together with 19,000 hospitals worldwide in order to raise awareness of the importance of hand sterilization, is starting to pay off.
Following the lead of a program piloted by Pittet in Swiss hospitals in the 1990s, rates of hand disinfection in Australia and certain Asian health care facilities are at almost 85 percent.
鈥淭wenty years ago the rate of hand disinfection was only around 20 percent. Now it鈥檚 becoming one of the sexiest topics in medical literature,鈥 said Pittet. 鈥淚n a way, it鈥檚 Semmelweis鈥檚 revenge.鈥
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
