Description
Ignác Semmelweis, “saviour of mothers”, was the first to discover that childbed fever was not an epidemic, but it is an infection passed on by doctors. His discovery was based on statistical data and his own scientific research and observation. Using a cause and effect relationship he provided evidence that the childbed fever having resulted in many deaths until then, and the infection causing the fever may be prevented if the persons in direct contact with women in labour carefully sanitised their hands. With the strict introduction of hand wash with chlorinated lime solutions the death rate dropped from 25-30% to 1% in the maternity ward he managed. The prevention suggested by Semmelweis was considered revolutionary, he was 30 years ahead of his time, but his method was not readily accepted by the medical science of his day. His discoveries and theories were only recognised and applied from 1877, as a result of the work of Louis Pasteur, Robert Koch (bacteriology), and Joseph Lister (antiseptic surgery).
