Keep it clean: the surprising 130-year history of hand washing
Dr Ignaz Semmelweis
Born in Buda (now Budapest), Hungary in 1818, Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was the first doctor to discover the medical benefits of handwashing[1]. Working in obstetrics in Vienna, Austria, he demonstrated that asking doctors to practice aseptic technique and disinfect their hands vastly reduced the transmission of disease.[2]
Puerperal fever, also known as “childbed fever” was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and led to high mortality rates in new mothers in maternity wards across Europe. Semmelweis hypothesised that doctors, rotating between patient wards, transmitted infectious particles on their hands from autopsies or operations on to susceptible mothers. Convinced that cleanliness was all that mattered, Semmelweis proposed the practice of hand washing with a chlorine-lime solution. After implementation, infection rates in his unit plummeted.
Unfortunately, despite published results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, his idea (extreme for the times) was rejected and mocked by the medical community. Semmelweis died untimely of sepsis at the young age of 47.[3]Decades later, the Hungarian’s hygienic practice was only validated after Louis Pasteur confirmed the ‘germ theory of disease’ and Joseph Lister practiced hygienic methods with any great success.
Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, considered a pioneer of antiseptic procedures and the “Father of infection control” helped establish handwashing as one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of diseases.
Google Doodle:
https://www.google.com/doodles/recognizing-ignaz-semmelweis-and-handwashing
Written & distributed by: Dr Elizabeth Dubois, WHO Senior Research Associate
Image sources: Dr. Rath Health Foundation , Bettmann Archive/Getty
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/keep-it-clean-the-surprising-130-year-history-of-handwashing
- https://www.newscientist.com/people/ignaz-semmelweis/
- https://www.google.com/doodles/recognizing-ignaz-semmelweis-and-handwashing
- https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/12/375663920/the-doctor-who-championed-hand-washing-and-saved-women-s-lives?t=1590584313116