Ignaz Semmelweis Hungarian obstetrician who was the first to develop modern methods of antisepsis in obstetrics and surgery Date of Birth: 01.07.1818 Country: Hungary

Biography of Ignaz Semmelweis

Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian obstetrician, was the first to develop modern methods of antiseptic in obstetrics and surgery. He was born on July 1, 1818 in Budapest. Semmelweis studied at the University of Pest from 1835 to 1837. In 1844, he graduated from the Medical School at the University of Vienna and specialized in surgery. In 1846, he obtained the title of Doctor of Obstetrics.

Semmelweis worked as an assistant in the maternity ward of the General Hospital in Vienna. There, he extensively studied "childbed fever" (puerperal sepsis). He noticed that the mortality rate among women in the ward where students were being trained was 4 to 10 times higher than in the other ward where students were not allowed. Another incident that caught Semmelweis' attention was the death of his long-time friend, the pathologist J. Kolletschka, who died of sepsis after cutting his finger during an autopsy. Semmelweis observed that the autopsy findings were similar to those he had seen in women who died from "childbed fever." He concluded that the source of infection was cadaveric material that entered the mother's body through the hands of medical students who had just come from the anatomy theater.

Semmelweis decided to fight against the introduction of infection. He demanded that all students and doctors thoroughly wash their hands before entering the maternity ward and then disinfect them with a solution of lime chloride. Following his insistence, all instruments and accessories were also subjected to antiseptic treatment.

Semmelweis' antiseptic approach immediately yielded positive results. In 1848, the mortality rate among women in the ward where he worked was already lower than in the second ward. However, his discovery was not understood by his colleagues, including the head of the department, Professor I. Klein, who adhered to the "atmospheric-cosmic" theory of the origin of childbed fever. Semmelweis was forced to leave for Budapest, where he served as the head of a maternity hospital from 1850 to 1855. In 1855, he became a professor of obstetrics at the University of Budapest. Here, he continued to struggle for the implementation of his method, taught it to students, and performed surgical operations in antiseptic conditions 15 years before the Englishman Joseph Lister, who popularized this method.

In 1861, Semmelweis published "Open Letters" addressed to renowned obstetricians from various European countries, explaining his position and sharply criticizing those who rejected his recommendations. In the same year, his famous monograph "Etiology, Essence, and Prevention of Childbed Fever" (Die Aetiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers) was published.

Years of misunderstanding and struggle did not pass in vain for Semmelweis, as he developed a mental disorder. Ironically, while performing another autopsy, the scientist cut his finger and contracted a blood infection. Ignaz Semmelweis died on August 13, 1865.