Image Credit: Hand Washing Stops Infections—But Doctors Didn’t Realize it Until the Mid-19th Century – HISTORY
National Handwashing Awareness Week
In the wake of the 2020 pandemic, the repeated advice to wash hands while singing “Happy Birthday” might have grown tiresome, yet the significance of handwashing remains undiminished. Today it’s common sense to wash your hands to help prevent diseases, but it wasn’t always that way.
The Evolution of Germ Theory
Until the mid-19th century, diseases were believed to be caused by bad smells or evil spirits Most families didn’t get to see all of their children grow up to become adults. The concept of diseases being linked to poor hygiene gained traction around the early 1840s, thanks to the insights of scientists like Oliver Holmes Sr. and James Young Simpson. However, it was Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis who achieved remarkable breakthroughs in the mid-1800s. Working in Vienna General Hospital’s Maternity Clinic, Semmelweis stumbled upon a stark contrast in mortality rates between two maternity wards. One, managed by medical students, saw mortality rates ranging from 13% to 18%, while the other, overseen by midwives, experienced only a 2% mortality rate. Semmelweis meticulously examined the processes of both wards, probing for differences in traffic and temperature. An epiphany struck when a colleague fell victim to an infected scalpel wound. This scalpel had been used during the autopsy of a deceased mother and had gone unwashed. It came to light that physicians were not only neglecting to cleanse the scalpel but were also handling the bodies of deceased infants and then assisting in childbirth without proper hand hygiene. Semmelweis suspected that these tragic outcomes resulted from “decaying animal-organic matter.” To remedy this, he mandated all physicians to disinfect their hands with a chlorinated lime solution before entering the wards. This simple change reduced physician-assisted maternity mortality rates to match those of the midwives, reaching 2%. Despite strong evidence, Semmelweis faced ridicule; the notion of “invisible” particles as the culprits of diseases was a hard pill to swallow. Tragically, he spent his final days in a mental institution.
Embrace Hand Hygiene
In the ensuing century, the efficacy of handwashing became firmly established. Regrettably, it wasn’t until Semmelweis’s death that his work gained appreciation. In 1857, Louis Pasteur’s pioneering research in microbiology validated Semmelweis’s idea of “invisible particles” causing food spoilage. Subsequent research has consistently built upon these foundations.
In the present day, you have the opportunity to right the wrongs of those who ridiculed Semmelweis by simply washing your hands. Reflect on the fact that this small act can truly save lives. As we commemorate National Handwashing Awareness Week, remember the legacy of Ignaz Semmelweis and the enduring importance of hand hygiene.
Sources
“The Man Who Discovered That Unwashed Hands Could Kill–And was Ridiculed For It”
Meagan Flynn From The Washington Post
