Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818–65)

摘要

Born at Buda (now Budapest) on 1 July 1818, Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (Figure 1) read law at Pest before studying medicine in Vienna where he graduated in 1844. He became an assistant at the First Obstetric Clinic of the University. Puerperal infection was then rampant in European maternity hospitals and caused many maternal deaths. Despite the objections of his chief, Johann Klein (1788–1856), Semmelweis investigated its cause. He found the death rate much higher in wards frequented by medical students than in those where midwives were trained. He concluded that students transferred something from the dissecting room to the labour ward and so he made them wash their hands in chlorinated lime before each examination. The mortality rate dropped from 18% to just over one. The young medical men in Vienna recognized the significance of Semmelweis's discovery; Klein was unimpressed.