Ignaz Semmelweis

During the 19th century industry began expanding and when it did a lot of work-related diseases come with it. Such diseases were phossy jaw, lung diseases and dermatitis. There was also a bacterial infection that would target pregnant women, it would cause death to fetuses and make the mother have a miscarriage, this was known as childbed fever. Ignaz Semmelweis brought down the childbed fever death rate among new mothers by insisting that doctors wash their hands before touching women during childbirth. Because Cities started to grow rapidly, and so did urban sprawl. Health problems, such as typhus and cholera became more common. Cholera is an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, it typically contracted from infected water supplies and it causes severe vomiting and diarrhea. Typhus is an infectious disease caused by rickettsiae, many symptoms were a purple rash, headaches, fever, and usually delirium, and historically a cause of high mortality during wars and famines. There are several forms, you can get transmitted by vectors such as lice, ticks, mites, and…

Vonnegut argues that an obstetrician named Ignaz Semmelweis should be viewed and modeled as a hero. He begins his essay by stating his intentions in his paper--at least purportedly. Vonnegut goes on to expand in detail on each of his three major subjects: honor, “guessers”, and Semmelweis as a hero. Each of his points leads into the others, and the entire essay builds on itself. He ends his essay with a few final comments on guessers and their goals. Vonnegut’s essay portrays the dangers of…

is today. If one was to undergo a surgery in the 1800’s, the likely of living was faint, bacteria would spread quickly, risking an infection, which would end up killing the patient, surgical procedures were mostly seen as a last resort (History of Infection Control and its Contributions to the Development and Success of Brain Tumor Operations). In 1846 Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician discovered that not cleaning one’s hands or the instruments used during a procedure would cause the…

Incautious Doctors Throughout the medical history, preventing or curing a disease was one of the hardest dilemmas that doctors face. According to Nuland’s novel, The Doctor’s Plague, where a group of obstetrical doctors came together at Vienna’s general hospital, Allgemeine Krankenhaus, in order to figure out the leading causes of childbed fever epidemic (Nuland). It took them years and decades to find out the roots of the disease. They conducted several theories and experiments to come up a…

it might now be, the act of washing hands to prevent infections wasn’t so apparent up until the late 1800s. Back when doctors and medical students would move from dissecting a corpse straight to performing surgery on a patient, what is now known as infectious diseases were attributed to various reasons, and as every human being is in someway distinct from others, it was suggested that the cause of every death was too (Semmelweis seal., n.d.). In the 1840’s, and due to an increasing rate of…

canning is still being followed by current food suppliers under the supervision and observation of Health officials. One of the requirements is a “documented procedure that will ensure that only safe and stable canned product is shipped in commerce” (U.S. Department of Agriculture, n.d.) Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis – Hand washing Today in society hand washing is not just a norm, but a requirement, especially in the food handling business. Washing one’s hands cleans the hand from any bacteria or…

is a honor that women should feel the pain, but after the queen requested chloroform more women started to ask for it too. Nitrous oxide was discovered by Joseph Priestly. This drug allowed people to fall into a deep sleep and not feel pain and it is mostly used for dental care. In 1895 x-rays were invented by Wilhelm Roentgen, the “X” stands for unknown. When Roentgen's wife saw her bone when she put her hand in the x-ray she said “I have seen my own death”(Greatest Discoveries in Medicine…

Of these, 75,000 patients die of their infections. CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MHP, said even the most advanced health care will not work if clinicians neglect basic practices such as hand hygiene. For the second story in a two-part series on infection control in hospitals, Infectious Disease News spoke with several experts, including hospital epidemiologists, to discuss the importance of hand hygiene and reasons behind the variability in hand hygiene compliance. In the mid-1800s, the…

The Semmelweis Reflex In 2017, it is common knowledge that bacteria live inside of corpses, and that bacteria can cause diseases. Almost every elementary schooler is fully aware of this fact. Nevertheless, at one point this was a groundbreaking discovery, one that was met with great skepticism and mockery. The German-Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis (July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865) is credited with the discovery of what is now common sense: one should wash their hands between handling dead…

will examine the Childbed Fever case and critically examine the scientific approach taken with this case in order to avoid the original pseudoscience that occurred which will lead into the pseudoscience that was accepted before science occurred, which will then be provided with another example of pseudoscience. ChildBed Fever is an epidemic that took place in Europe during the 19th century, when women in two different maternity divisions in an Austrian hospital, those in one division were…