[ad_1]
VIENNA – This is not an unusual fate for a pioneering scientist: languishing unappreciated during his time and then 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 – doctors must thoroughly 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. – On the other hand, in the neighboring wing where midwives trained, the rate remained below the current average of 3%
. He greatly troubled Semmelweis, and he undertook a thorough epidemiological study, "said Bernhard Kuenburg, president of the Semmelweis Foundation in Vienna
. Semmelweis hypothesized that corpses must contain invisible but potentially lethal "particles".
"At the time, medical students were going directly to an autopsy to help at work. "Soap was not enough to solve the problem, Semmelweis imposed a harsher hand washing regime for five minutes with a solution of very hard chlorinated lime"
. "Semmelweis reduced the death rate to almost zero," Kuenburg says.
But instead of applause, Semmelweis was angered by the greats of the Vienna medical fraternity, and in 1849 his contract was not renewed [19659004Thedoctors'self-esteemwasveryhighatthemomentOfcoursetheywereoffendedbecausetheydidnotliketheideathattheywereguiltyofcausethisterribledeathrate"saidKuenburg
In addition, it would be another quarter of a century before Pasteur could finally prove the existence of "microbes".
Other doctors demanded 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 the fiery disposition of Semmelweis and his lack of tact did not help – he did not hesitate to call his colleagues" killers. "
end of his life, his mental health deteriorated.He died in an asylum in 1865, at the age of 47.
At the end of the 19th century, the reputation of Semmelweis began to be rehabilitated after the discoveries of Pasteur then Robert Koch and Alexander Yersin brought his theories.] 19659002] In 1924, the French writer Louis-Ferdinand Céline devotes a medical thesis to him and calls it "Genius"
Today, he is considered to be the father of modern theories of hospital hygiene and sterilization
According to Professor Didier Pittet, an expert in the fight against the World Health Organization (WHO), the practice of hand disinfection is considered a common sense for medical staff, but it is not as systematic as it should be.
"On average, 50 to 70% of hospital infections do not in only 50% of cases, "he said.
Approximately 3.2 million people are affected each year by nosocomial infections in European countries. Just for the Union, 100 deaths a day.
Pittet estimates that the overall figure for these deaths is between 5 and 8 million a year.
"Disinfecting hands with an alcohol solution is cheap and simple But despite this," it is an act that is not taken seriously enough, especially by the doctors themselves. same, "said Mr. Pittet, adding that some doctors seem to think
However, the WHO campaign" Clean Care is Safer Care ", launched with 19,000 hospitals worldwide to raise awareness to the importance of sterilization of the hands, begins to bear fruit.
Following a program piloted by Pittet in Swiss hospitals in the 1990s, the rates of hand disinfection in Australia and in some Asian care facilities reach almost 85%.
Twenty years ago, the rate of hand disinfection was only about 20 percent .Now, it becomes one of the sexiest topics of the medical literature, "said Pittet
" In a sense, that's Is the revenge of Semmelweis. "
Source link
