HOME HELP CONTACT US SUBSCRIPTIONS CME ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) E-Letters: Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when E-Letters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services E-mail this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My File Cabinet Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Seri, I. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Seri, I.

NeoReviews Vol.8 No.6 2007 e235
© 2007 American Academy of Pediatrics

Historical Perspectives

Perinatal Profiles: Childbed Fever and Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

	Introduction

 
Despite existing infection-control measures, up to 10% of patients in acute-care hospitals acquire at least one nosocomial infection in the United States. According to recent data, this translates to nosocomial infections occurring in about 2 million patients in the United States every year, causing up to 90,000 deaths and resulting in $4.5 to 5.7 billion in additional patient care costs. (1)

Hand washing before and after patient contact is the simplest and one of the most effective infection control measures. Interestingly, the first physician to prove the effectiveness of hand washing did so before the discovery of infectious agents. Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician and the pioneer of antisepsis, was the first to demonstrate that most cases of childbed fever could be prevented. One would assume that the man who made one of the most important discoveries of the 19th century was honored by his peers and acknowledged by the medical establishment, and his methods were applied throughout the world. Instead, he was ridiculed, released in disgrace from the Viennese General Hospital and Medical School faculty, and never acknowledged by most of his contemporaries. His short and tragic life ended in a mental asylum in 1865 at the age of 47. (2)(3) Only after Pasteur, Koch, and Lister had produced more evidence of the "germ theory" and the use of antiseptic techniques was the value of hand washing appreciated and introduced into medical practice. Sadly, full compliance with this measure of infection control has not been reached even in the 21st century. Nevertheless, it is truly unfortunate that Semmelweis could not witness the transformation of medicine assisted by his discovery, when these changes occurred after the acceptance of the germ theory, years after his death.

A complex but plausible explanation for the treatment . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Istvan Seri, MD, PhD^*

^* USC Division of Neonatal Medicine, Women's and Children's Hospital and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif