Ignaz Semmelweis

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Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865) was a Hungarian physician now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "savior of mothers",Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics.Template:R Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Semmelweis postulated the theory of washing with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847Template:R while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards. He published a book of his findings in Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever.

Despite various publications of results where hand-washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory. In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an asylum, where he ironically died of septicemia, at age 47.

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-All human societies have [[medicine|medical]] beliefs that provide explanations for [[childbirth|birth]], [[death]], and [[disease]]. Throughout history, illness has been attributed to [[witchcraft]], [[demons]], adverse [[astrology|astral influence]], or the will of the [[deity|gods]]. These ideas still retain some power, with [[faith healing]] and [[shrine]]s still used in some places, although the rise of scientific medicine over the past millennium has altered or replaced many of the old beliefs.
-== Modern medicine ==
-Medicine was revolutionized in the 19th century and beyond by advances in [[chemistry]] and laboratory techniques and equipment, old ideas of infectious disease epidemiology were replaced with [[bacteriology]] and [[virology]].
-[[Bacteria]] and [[microorganisms]] were first observed with a [[microscope]] by [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek]] in 1676, initiating the scientific field [[microbiology]].
-[[Ignaz Semmelweis]] (1818–1865) in 1847 dramatically reduced the death rate of new mothers from [[child bed fever]] by the simple expedient of requiring physicians to clean their hands before attending to women in [[childbirth]]. His discovery pre-dated the [[germ theory of disease]]. However, his discoveries were not appreciated by his contemporaries and came into general use only with discoveries of British surgeon [[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister|Joseph Lister]], who in 1865 proved the principles of [[antisepsis]] in the treatment of wounds; However, medical conservatism on new breakthroughs in pre-existing science prevented them from being generally well received during the 19th century.
+'''Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis''' (July 1, 1818&nbsp;– August 13, 1865) was a Hungarian physician now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures.  Described as the "savior of mothers",Semmelweis discovered that the [[incidence (epidemiology)|incidence]] of [[puerperal fever]] could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in [[Obstetrics|obstetrical]] clinics.{{R|"Hanninen1"}} Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal, with mortality at 10%–35%. Semmelweis postulated the theory of washing with [[calcium hypochlorite|chlorinated lime solutions]] in 1847{{R|"Hanninen1"}} while working in [[Vienna General Hospital]]'s First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of [[midwife|midwives']] wards.  He published a book of his findings in ''[[Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever]]''.
-After [[Charles Darwin]]'s 1859 publication of ''[[The Origin of Species]]'', [[Gregor Mendel]] (1822–1884) published in 1865 his books on pea plants, which would be later known as [[Mendelian inheritance|Mendel's laws]]. Re-discovered at the turn of the 20th century, they would form the basis of [[history of genetics|classical genetics]]. The 1953 discovery of the structure of [[DNA]] by [[James D. Watson|Watson]] and [[Francis Crick|Crick]] would open the door to [[History of molecular biology|molecular biology]] and modern genetics. During the late 19th century and the first part of the 20th century, several physicians, such as Nobel prize winner Alexis Carrel, supported [[eugenics]], a theory first formulated in 1865 by [[Francis Galton]]. Eugenics was discredited as a science after the [[Nazi Germany|Nazis]]' experiments in [[World War II]] became known; however, [[compulsory sterilization]] programs continued to be used in modern countries (including the US, Sweden and Peru) until much later.
+Despite various publications of results where hand-washing reduced [[Death|mortality]] to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when [[Louis Pasteur]] confirmed the [[germ theory of disease|germ theory]]. In 1865, Semmelweis was committed to an  [[psychiatric hospital|asylum]], where he ironically died of [[Sepsis|septicemia]], at age 47.
-Semmelweis's work was supported by the discoveries made by [[Louis Pasteur]]. Linking microorganisms with disease, Pasteur brought about a revolution in medicine. He also invented with [[Claude Bernard]] (1813–1878) the process of [[pasteurization]] still in use today. His experiments confirmed the germ theory. Claude Bernard aimed at establishing [[scientific method]] in medicine; he published ''An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine'' in 1865. Beside this, Pasteur, along with [[Robert Koch]] (who was awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Nobel Prize]] in 1905), founded bacteriology. Koch was also famous for the discovery of the [[Mycobacterium tuberculosis|tubercle bacillus]] (1882) and the [[Vibrio cholerae|cholera bacillus]] (1883) and for his development of [[Koch's postulates]].
-The participation of women in medical care (beyond serving as midwives, sitters and cleaning women) was brought about by  [[Florence Nightingale]]. Nightingale showed a previously male dominated profession the elemental role of nursing in order to lessen the aggravation of patient mortality which resulted from lack of hygiene and nutrition. Nightingale set up the St Thomas hospital, post-Crimea, in 1852. [[Elizabeth Blackwell (doctor)|Elizabeth Blackwell]] (1821–1910) became the first woman to formally study, and subsequently practice, medicine in the United States.
-It was in this era that actual cures were developed for certain endemic infectious diseases. However the decline in many of the most lethal diseases was more due to improvements in public health and nutrition than to medicine. It was not until the 20th century that the application of the [[scientific method]] to medical research began to produce multiple important developments in medicine, with great advances in [[pharmacology]] and surgery.
-During the [[First World War]], [[Alexis Carrel]] and [[Henry Drysdale Dakin|Henry Dakin]] developed the Carrel-Dakin method of treating wounds with an irrigation, Dakin's solution, a germicide which helped prevent gangrene.
-The Great War spurred the usage of [[Wilhelm Röntgen|Roentgen]]'s [[X-ray]], and the [[electrocardiograph]], for the monitoring of internal bodily functions.  This was followed in the inter-war period by the development of the first anti-bacterial agents such as the [[sulpha]] antibiotics.  The Second World War saw the introduction of widespread and effective antimicrobial therapy with the development and mass production of [[penicillin]] antibiotics, made possible by the pressures of the war and the collaboration of British scientists with the American pharmaceutical industry.
-[[Lunatic asylum]]s began to appear in the [[Industrial Era]]. [[Emil Kraepelin]] (1856–1926) introduced new medical categories of [[mental illness]], which eventually came into [[psychiatry|psychiatric]] usage despite their basis in behavior rather than [[Biopsychiatry controversy|pathology or etiology]]. In the 1920s [[surrealism|surrealist]] opposition to psychiatry was expressed in a number of surrealist publications.  In the 1930s several controversial medical practices were introduced including inducing seizures (by [[electroshock]], [[insulin]] or other drugs) or cutting parts of the brain apart ([[leucotomy]] or [[lobotomy]]). Both came into widespread use by psychiatry, but there were grave concerns and much opposition on grounds of basic morality, harmful effects, or misuse. In the 1950s new psychiatric drugs, notably the antipsychotic [[chlorpromazine]], were designed in laboratories and slowly came into preferred use. Although often accepted as an advance in some ways, there was some opposition, due to serious adverse effects such as [[tardive dyskinesia]]. Patients often opposed psychiatry and refused or stopped taking the drugs when not subject to psychiatric control. There was also increasing opposition to the use of psychiatric hospitals, and attempts to move people back into the community on a collaborative [[World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry|user-led group]] approach ("therapeutic communities") not controlled by psychiatry. Campaigns against [[masturbation]] were done in the [[Victorian era]] and elsewhere. [[Lobotomy]] was used until the 1970s to treat [[schizophrenia]]. This was denounced by the [[anti-psychiatric]] movement in the 1960s and later.
-The 20th century witnessed a shift from a master-apprentice paradigm of teaching of clinical medicine to a more "democratic" system of medical schools. With the advent of the [[evidence-based medicine]] and great advances of information technology the process of change is likely to evolve further, with greater development of international projects such as the [[Human genome project]].
-In 1954 [[Joseph Murray]], [[J. Hartwell Harrison, M.D.]] and others accomplished the first [[kidney transplantation]].
 ==See also==
-*[[Timeline of medicine]]
+*[[Historical mortality rates of puerperal fever]]
+*[[Contemporary reaction to Ignaz Semmelweis]]
+* [[Carl Mayrhofer]]
+*''[[The Cry and the Covenant]]''
+*Independent originators of disinfection procedures:
+**[[Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.]]
+**[[Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister]]
+*[[Semmelweis University]]
+*[[Semmelweis Society]]
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Ignaz Semmelweis

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Revision as of 11:48, 2 July 2011

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