Commemorating the bicentenary of the doctor who championed aseptic practice in obstetric medicine
Asepsis and antiseptic technique are fundamental to modern medicine, a fact evident on any Australian hospital ward with its diverse array of sanitisers, soaps, and antiseptic sprays. Infection control staff regularly scurry about our workplaces, hand hygiene is encouraged in every corridor, and few medical procedures are possible without removing at least one item from a sterile plastic wrapper. Less than 200 years ago, however, medicine was performed without any effective antisepsis. One of the pioneers in this area was Ignaz Semmelweis (1818–1865), the Hungarian obstetrician who dedicated his career to reducing maternal mortality by strict insistence on hand washing, facilitating what William Osler (1849–1919) described as “one of the most striking of all victories of preventive medicine … the almost total abolition of so-called child-bed fever from the maternity hospitals.”1
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1. Osler W. Medicine in the nineteenth century. In: Aequanimitas. With other addresses to medical students, nurses and practitioners of medicine. London: H. K. Lewis, 1904; pp. 227-276.
- 2. Sinclair WJ. Semmelweis, his life and his doctrine: a chapter in the history of medicine. Manchester University Press, 1909.
- 3. Semmelweis I. The etiology, concept and prophylaxis of childbed fever. K Codell Carter, translator. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983.
- 4. Routh CHF. On the causes of the endemic puerperal fever of Vienna. Medico-Chirurgical Transactions 1849; 32: 27-40.
- 5. Adams F, editor. The genuine works of Hippocrates, translated from the Greek, with a preliminary discourse and annotations. Volume II. London: The Sydenham Society, 1849.
- 6. Morgan J, Roberts S. Maternal sepsis. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am 2013; 40:69-87.
- 7. Cwikel J. Lessons from Semmelweis: a social epidemiologic update on safe motherhood. Soc Med 2007; 3: 19-35.
- 8. Gordon A. A treatise on the epidemic puerperal fever of Aberdeen. London: GG & J Robinson, 1795.
- 9. Dunn PM. Dr Alexander Gordon (1752–99) and contagious puerperal fever. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 1998; 78: F232-F233.
- 10. Holmes OW. The contagiousness of puerperal fever. New England Quarterly Journal of Medical Surgery 1843; 1: 503-530.
- 11. Dunn PM. Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894) and his essay on puerperal fever. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2007; 92: F325-F327.
- 12. Nuland SB. The enigma of Semmelweis — an interpretation. J Hist Med Allied Sci 1979; 34: 255-272.
No relevant disclosures.