The"Dissident" in Western Surgical Anti-infection Technology——Semmelweis

Xiangran Huang*,Chaoan He

school of Humanities, DonghuaUniversity, Shanghai, 200050, China

Abstract: In the obstetrics and gynecology ward of the Vienna Hospital in the 19thcentury, a doctor named Semmelweis had been confused about the cause of deathof high fever caused by puerperal fever after giving birth to a child. At that time, the medicalprofession believed that puerperal fever was caused by the toxic atmosphere inthe atmosphere, but Semmelweis disagreed. He tried his best to find out thecause of the disease because the doctor did not wash his hands thoroughly afterthe autopsy and gave birth at the time of childbirth, resulting in the death ofthe mother due to bacterial infection. In the process of popularizing thiscause to colleagues in the medical profession, he encountered unprecedented resistanceand became a "dissident" in surgical medicine at that time.

Keywords: Puerperal fever; Semmelves; Surgical medicine; Dissident.