Who Invented Hand Washing? – Forbes

LightRocket via Getty Images

We are in the midst of a crisis, with no idea when or how it will end. Coronavirus, COVID-19, is having a global impact not only from a medical standpoint, but also in social, economic and political terms as well. We are seeing individual behavior that ranges from the heroic work of doctors and nurses to the highly irresponsible actions of others. In recent days were all watching a world-wide media show called Amateur Hour: people who have no scientific qualifications preaching about the causes and solutions to the problems, when we should simply follow the science, and the advice of doctors and scientists with credibility and experience.Perhaps the only thing that all of us understand is this: we must wash our hands far more often than normal to prevent or at least reduce the chances of contracting the virus.

Hand washing, is a simple routine that we learned to do as kids. Our parents would tell us, dont come to the table unless youve washed your hands, I suppose a golden rule from our childhood. But was this always the case? No, someone literally invented the concept of hand washing. And the story of when and how it happened is a pretty incredible one.

Ignac Semmelweis was born in 1818 near Budapest. He graduated in Medicine at age 26, specializing in Obstetrics and in 1846 began working in one of the two maternity wards at the Vienna General Hospital, but during his first month of work he was left traumatized: out of 208 hospitalized women, 36 died, a mortality rate of 17%. Although the hospital was free, built for people in need, many women preferred to give birth to their children on the street, because of the poor reputation of the health facility. Furthermore, Semmelweis notes that in the other maternity ward the mortality rate is much lower.

The doctor was not happy with official explanations without any scientific basis, so Semmelweis sought out rigorous and ascertainable causes that clarify the phenomenon: he noticed that near the maternity ward there was a morgue and that many doctors had got into the habit of both doing autopsies and assisting births. When a colleague cut himself with a scalpel used for an autopsy and died within a few days, Semmelweis noted that the wounds and the infection were the same as those of the women who died in the delivery room and finally senses the source of the problem. He immediately ordered all the doctors and nurses to wash their hands numerous times a day with chlorinated water and, as a result, the mortality rate was drastically reduced, reaching zero after two years.

His discovery (which seems obvious to us, but wasnt at that time) saved thousands of lives. Ignac shares the results of his discovery with the medical elite of Vienna, stating that the simple act of disinfecting his hands has defeated the scourge of maternal mortality.

If the Nobel Prize for Medicine had existed at the time, dont you think he would have deserved it? But Semmelweis soon realized that his teachings were not well accepted by the medical community in Vienna, who attack and mock him. He left the General Hospital, which, a year later, returned to its previous mortality rate as doctors and nurses stopped washing their hands. The Viennese medical community became openly hostile, and his book, Die tiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxe des Kindbettfiebers, was ridiculed and deemed absolutely worthless. Semmelweis fought back, writing fiery letters in which he accuses doctors of being murderers; even his wife begins to doubt his mental health. In 1865, as a trap, he was invited to visit an asylum, where he was locked up against his will, put in a straitjacket, beaten by sadistic nurses and forgotten by everyone, Semmelweis died after two weeks.

We own an amazing scientific discovery to a Hungarian Doctor, Ignac Semmelveis.

View original post here:

Who Invented Hand Washing? - Forbes