18/19: I. Semmelweis

• Before Ignaz Semmelweis


  Death rates on maternity wards were extremely high due to unsanitary conditions
• Ignaz Semmelweis' discovery

  • Disproved the belief that post-operations deaths were caused by ‘poison air’ in a hospital ward.
  • The work done by Semmelweis all but removed puerperal fever from the maternity units he worked in.
• Ignaz Semmelweis laid the foundations for... (after)

  • His colleagues and superiors derided his work while he was alive but antiseptic surgery drastically reduced post-operation fatalities.