Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis demonstrated that the use of disinfectants could reduce the occurrence of puerperal fever in patients in nineteenth century Austria. Puerperal fever is a bacterial infection that can occur in the uterine tract of women after giving birth or undergoing an abortion.

Ignaz Semmelweis was the first doctor to discover the importance for medical professionals of hand washing. In the 19th century, it was common for women to die from an illness contracted during or after childbirth, known as childbed fever.

Semmelweis instituted a hand-washing regimen for physicians and medical students in the obstetrics division, forcing them to disinfect their hands with a chlorinated lyme. He also had staff wash medical instruments before and after procedures.

In 1847, Hungarian obstetrician Ignaz Semmelweis (Figure 4) observed that mothers who gave birth in hospital wards staffed by physicians and medical students were more likely to suffer and die from puerperal fever after childbirth (10%–20% mortality rate) than were mothers in wards staffed by midwives (1% mortality …

He was the first person to isolate bacteria in pure culture (Bacillus lactis) using liquid cultures containing either Pasteur’s solution of turnip infusion and a special syringe to dilute the inoculum and so can be considered a co-founder of medical microbiology with Koch, who later isolated bacteria on solid media.

Ignaz Semmelweis introduced handwashing standards after discovering that the occurrence of puerperal fever could be prevented by practicing hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. He believed that microbes causing infection were readily transferred from patients to patients, medical staff to patients and vice versa.

Semmelweis’s discoveries and achievements, including the introduction of effective handwashing protocols for medical procedures, brought about a new paradigm in infection control. His work on germ theory is just as relevant today as it was in the 1840s.

In 1865, the increasingly outspoken Semmelweis supposedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleagues. In the asylum he was beaten by the guards. He died 14 days later from a gangrenous wound on his right hand that may have been caused by the beating….

The invention of the microscope led to the discovery of the cell by Hooke. While looking at cork, Hooke observed box-shaped structures, which he called “cells” as they reminded him of the cells, or rooms, in monasteries. This discovery led to the development of the classical cell theory.

Robert Koch (1843-1910): father of microbiology and Nobel laureate.

Anne Lister, born into the scientifically-minded family that produced Joseph Lister and eventually lent its name to Listerine mouthwash, was also one of the great English diarists.

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis was a Hungarian gynecologist who is known as a pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. He is also described as the “savior of mothers” and “father of infection control”.

Puerperal fever is a bacterial infection that can occur in the uterine tract of women after giving birth or undergoing an abortion. Semmelweis determined that puerperal fever is contagious and argued that the unhygienic practices of physicians, like examining patients after performing autopsies, caused the spread of puerperal fever.

Issued in Austria in 1965 on the 100th anniversary of his death. This case-control analysis led Semmelweis to consider several hypotheses. He concluded that the higher rates of infections in women delivered by physicians and medical students were associated with the handling of corpses during autopsies before attending the pregnant women.

Postage stamp of Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, 1818–1865. Issued in Austria in 1965 on the 100th anniversary of his death. This case-control analysis led Semmelweis to consider several hypotheses.