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Ignaz Semmelweiss: The hand washer

Lindsey Fitzharris tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweiss. In a world that had no understanding of germs, he saved lives with three simple words "wash your hands".

Lindsey Fitzharris tells the story of Ignaz Semmelweiss, the hand washer. In a world that had no understanding of germs, he tried to apply science to halt the spread of infection. Ignaz Semmelweis observed that many young medical students at his hospital in Vienna went directly from an autopsy, still covered in contaminated dead flesh, to attend pregnant women. Could this be the reason for such high maternal mortality rates from conditions like puerperal fever? Believing that the disease was caused by β€œinfective material” from a dead body, Semmelweiss set up a basin filled with chlorinated lime solution in his hospital and began saving women’s lives with three simple words: β€˜wash your hands’. He was demonised by his colleagues for his efforts, but today, he is known as the β€œSaviour of Mothers.”

Lindsey Fitzharris discusses some of the common myths surrounding the story of Semmelweiss with Dr Barron H. Lerner of New York University Langone School of Medicine. And she talks to Professor Val Curtis, Director of the Environmental Health Group at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who has studied the amount of hand washing by medical staff in hospitals today.

Picture: Victorian boy washing his hands in a stream, Credit: whitemay

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27 minutes

Last on

Sun 10 May 2020 23:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 4 May 2020 19:32GMT
  • Tue 5 May 2020 01:32GMT
  • Tue 5 May 2020 06:32GMT
  • Tue 5 May 2020 12:32GMT
  • Tue 5 May 2020 15:32GMT
  • Sun 10 May 2020 23:32GMT

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