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This is not an unusual fate for a pioneering scientist: languishing misunderstood of his time before dying in the dark. But, on the occasion of his 200th birthday, the work of a Hungarian obstetrician has finally come to an end.
Several decades before Louis Pasteur was widely accepted for the theory of the germs of the disease, Ignac Semmelweis was struggling against his peers to accept what is today medical. Orthodoxy – Physicians should carefully disinfect hands before treating patients.
Born on July 1, 1818, Semmelweis entered the obstetrics department of the Vienna General Hospital in 1846 and was immediately struck by the extremely high maternal mortality rate in the wing. It was more than 10%, sometimes as much as 40%
In contrast, in the neighboring wing where midwives trained, the rate remained below the contemporary average of 3%
. Semmelweis enormously and he started a thorough epidemiological study, "says Bernhard Kuenburg, president of the Semmelweis Foundation in Vienna.
In 1847, penny Semmelweis assumed that corpses had to contain "particles" invisible but potentially fatal
"At the time, medical students were going directly to an autopsy to help a job without disinfection. "The soap is not enough to solve the problem, Semmelweis imposed a harsher handwashing regime for five minutes with a chlorinated lime solution."
With this "very simple method," Semmelweis reduced the death rate "to almost zero," says Kuenburg
Fiery provision
But instead of applause, Semmelweis suffered the wrath of Vienna. fraternity and in 1849 his contract was not renewed.
"The self-esteem of the doctors was very high back at the moment.Of course, they were offended because they did not like the idea that they were not there. they were guilty of causing this terrible death rate, "says Kuenburg.
Moreover, there was still a quarter century before Pasteur finally proved the existence of "microbes"
Other doctors were asking for evidence, according to Kuenburg.
"They said," No, Mr. Semmelweis can not be right. He can not show us the pathogens, so something is fishy with this theory. "
And Semmelweis's inflamed disposition and his lack of tact did not help – he did not hesitate to call his colleagues" assassins ".
Toward the end of his life s & # 39; 39, is deteriorated and died in an asylum in 1865, at the age of 47.
100 deaths per day in the EU
The reputation of Semmelweis begins in the late 19th century to rehabilitate after the discoveries of Pasteur, Robert Koch and Alexander Yersin carried his theories.
In 1924, the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline devoted a medical thesis and called it "genius"
he is considered the father of modern theories of hospital hygiene and sterilization.
But even if disinfecting hands are accepted as common sense for medical personnel, the practice It's still not as systematic as it should be, according to the pr Didier Pittet, an expert in infection control worldwide, this practice is respected only "in 50% of cases on average, even if it can prevent 50 to 70% of nosocomial infections," he said. he declared to AFP
About 3.2 million people are affected each year by nosocomial infections in the EU, resulting in 100 deaths per day.
Pittet estimates that the overall number of these deaths is between five and eight million years in Hungary. 19659002] "Disinfecting hands with an alcohol solution is cheap and simple and has an immediate impact on infection rates," including for multidrug-resistant organisms, says Pittet.
But despite this, "it's an act that's not taken Pittet says, adding that some seem to think that worrying about the sterilization of their hands is somehow below the mark." Them.
However, the WHO campaign "Clean Care is Safer Care", launched jointly with 19,000 hospitals worldwide.Command to raise awareness of the importance of sterilization hands begin to bear fruit.
Following a program piloted by Pittet in Swiss hospitals in the 1990s, hand disinfection rates in Australia and some Asian health facilities are almost 85%
" Twenty years ago, the rate of hand disinfection was only about 20%. Now he is becoming one of the sexiest subjects in the medical literature, "says Pittet.
"In a sense, it's the revenge of Semmelweis. "
