A Hungarian physician who in 1847 showed that mandatory handwashing with a chlorinated lime solution by doctors moving between autopsies and childbirth wards sharply cut deaths from puerperal fever, decades before germ theory was established. His findings were rejected by much of the medical establishment of his time, a rejection now studied as a case of resisted innovation.
Facts
Notable ForEstablishing handwashing as disease prevention before germ theory was confirmed 1 Connections
Concepts and Practices Developed
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
In Branch
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.Concepts and Practices Developed: Hand Hygiene, Ignaz SemmelweisQuote, Concepts and Practices Developed: Hand Hygiene, Ignaz Semmelweis
Under these procedures, the mortality rates in the first division dropped from 18.27 to 1.27 percent.
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