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 βinfective materialβ from a dead body, Semmelweiss set up a basin filled with chlorinated lime solution in his hospital and began saving womenβs lives with three simple words: βwash your handsβ. He was demonised by his colleagues for his efforts, but today, he is known as the βSaviour of Mothers.β
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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- Mon 4 May 2020 19:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Tue 5 May 2020 01:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Tue 5 May 2020 06:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service
- Tue 5 May 2020 12:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Tue 5 May 2020 15:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Sun 10 May 2020 23:32GMTΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ World Service except South Asia
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