Ignaz Semmelweis(1818 – 1865)

Hungarian physician

Produce a profile Ignaz Semmelweis.• Who was he?• Where and when was he born?• What did he discover?• How did he make this discovery?• Why was this discovery so important?

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1847: Semmelweis’s friend, Jacob Kolletschka dies after he is accidentally stabbed

with a student’s scalpel during a dissection Jakob Kolletschka (1803 - 1847)

Professor of Forensic Medicineat Vienna General Hospital

Medical students spent their mornings before their clinic doing dissections on cadavers

They did not wash their hands after finishing

Kolletschka’s symptoms were similar to those of puerperal fever

CONCLUSIONS The students were transferring something from the cadavers to the mothers on their hands He could prevent deaths from puerperal fever by getting the

medical students to disinfect their hands

over 10% of mothers in the First Clinic regularly died of puerperal fever

- half as many mothers in the Second Clinic died of puerperal fever

The First Clinic was used to train medical students• The Second Clinic was used to train midwives

Explain the difference between the two sets of results, using the information that you have researched about Semmelweis and his discoveries.

Semmelweis made doctors who had been carrying out dissections or autopsies wash their hands with a chlorine handwash before seeing patients . What was the result of this advise?

Semmelweis had difficulty persuading other doctors to wash their hands because he couldn’t explain why washing hands

was important

We now know that puerperal fever is caused by a type of bacteria known as

Streptococci

These bacteria are found in the throat and nasal passages of most healthy people

Extension

Find out what “germ theory” is. Explain why Semmelweis may not have been able to explain his ideas and what the consequences of this were.