IMMUNOLOGY

OVERVIEW OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE OF IMMUNOLOGY

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
This scientist stated that handwashing prevents transmission of bacteria
A
Joseph Lister
B
Chaim Weizmann
C
Ignaz Semmelweis
D
Francesco Redi
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Semmelweis’ contribution was recognized 20 years after his death as the medical world became more receptive and wiser after germ theory of disease by Louis Pasteur and concept of antisepsis by Joseph Lister. He was hailed as the “Father of hand hygiene, ‘’ the “Father of infection control, ‘’ and “Savior of mothers.”

Detailed explanation-2: -Dr Semmelweis initiated a mandatory hand washing policy for medical students and physicians. In a controlled trial using a chloride of lime solution, 6 the mortality rate fell to about 2%-down to the same level as the midwives. Later he started washing the medical instruments and the rate decreased to about 1%.

Detailed explanation-3: -Ignaz Semmelweis (Figure 1) was the first physician in medical history who demonstrated that puerperal fever (also known as “childbed fever”) was contagious and that its incidence could be drastically reduced by enforcing appropriate hand washing by medical care-givers (3).

Detailed explanation-4: -Ignaz Semmelweis was the first doctor to discover the importance for medical professionals … of hand washing. In the 19th century, it was common for women to die from an illness contracted during or after childbirth, known as childbed fever.

Detailed explanation-5: -It was a doodle of Ignaz Semmelweis, a 19th-century Hungarian doctor who was known as the pioneer of hand-washing. He discovered the wonders of the now-basic hygienic practice as a way to stop the spread of infection in 1847, during an experiment in a Vienna hospital’s maternity ward.

Detailed explanation-6: -Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor working in Vienna General Hospital, is known as the father of hand hygiene.

Detailed explanation-7: -Semmelweis concluded that some “unknown cadaverous material” caused puerperal fever. He instituted a policy of washing hands with chlorinted lime for those leaving the autopsy room, following which the rate of maternal mortality dropped ten-folds, comparable to the second clinic.

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