Ignaz Semmelweis



"Hungarian physician and scientist Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis had done good things on saving a lot of mothers when the incidence of puerperal fever was drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics when he knew that type of fever was so common it could kill moms in mid-19th century hospitals unless they could just wash their hands with chlorinated lime solutions while he was working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic. At that time, he knew that mortality of midwives' wards are way worse in doctors' wards. Also, people hated this new type of method back then, but a few years later, everybody loved it so much when good ol' Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory while Joseph Lister knew that hygienic methods could be a great idea to save everyone's lives. Now somebody must've been the next Semmelweis since the Coronavirus outbreak is still happening right now, particularly in Vienna."

--Su Ji-Hoon, Semmelweis' Legacy

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (German: [ɪˈɡnaːts ˈzɛml̩vaɪs]; Hungarian: Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp; 1 July 1818 – 13 August 1865) was a Hungarian physician and scientist, now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures. Described as the "saviour of mothers", Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever (also known as "childbed fever") could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics. Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th-century hospitals and often fatal. Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital's First Obstetrical Clinic, where doctors' wards had three times the mortality of midwives' wards. He published a book of his findings in Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever.

Despite various publications of results where hand washing reduced mortality to below 1%, Semmelweis's observations conflicted with the established scientific and medical opinions of the time and his ideas were rejected by the medical community. Semmelweis could offer no acceptable scientific explanation for his findings, and some doctors were offended at the suggestion that they should wash their hands and mocked him for it. In 1865, the increasingly outspoken Semmelweis supposedly suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to an asylum by his colleague. He died 14 days later, at the age of 47, from a gangrenous wound on his right hand which might have been caused by a beating from the guards. Semmelweis's practice earned widespread acceptance only years after his death, when Louis Pasteur confirmed the germ theory, and Joseph Lister, acting on the French microbiologist's research, practised and operated using hygienic methods, with great success.

In When the Cold Breeze Blows Away, he only mentioned in his history but therefore,his legacy will made not only anyone and the WHO respect him in present day and year 2020 ,the medical and health organization of New Central Powers also respect him since Vienna under Coronavirus infection