discoveryto the world, but he was misunderstood.The workof Jenningsin the
USAwas continued by many others.Peopleweretaughtto bathe, to eat more
fruitand vegetables,to ventilatetheirhomes,to get exerciseand sunshine.
Hygienebecameso popular, that traditionalmedicinefinallyhad to adoptparts
of the Natural Hygiene'concept. Later,whenit becameclearthatgerms' were
the causeof many diseases, the new`hygiene' was incorporated with the drug
usageof medicineand the wordhygiene got the meaning it has today.
Hygienicdevelopments in Europe
In the middleof the 19thcenturytwo peoplelaid the foundation of modern
hygiene: the HungarianphysicianSemmelweisand the Britishsurgeon Lister.
Bothintroduced hygienic methodsthat are still essentialin modernsociety.
Igna¬c Fu»lo»p Semmelweis (1818±1865)was a Hungarianphysicianwho
demonstrated that puerperal fever^1 (also known as childbed fever') was contagiousand that its incidence could be drasticallyreduced by enforcing appropriatehand-washing behaviourby medicalcare-givers. Semmelweismade this discovery in 1847whileworkingin the MaternityDepartmentof the Vienna Lying-inHospital. He realised that the numberof cases of puerperal fever was much largerin clinic 1 wherestudents did both post-mortemexaminationswith human cadaversin the autopsy roomsand midwiferyin the maternityrooms. In clinic 1 the average deathrate amountedto 9.92%. In clinic2 wherestudents wereinvolvedin midwifery and not allowedto do autopsies,the averagedeath rate was much less at around 3.38%. After testing a few hypotheses, Semmelweis foundthatthe numberof cases wasdrastically reduced if the doctors washed theirhandscarefullybeforedealingwitha pregnant woman(see Table1.1).Riskwas especiallyhighif theyhad beenin contactwithcorpses before theytreated the women.Thegermtheoryof disease had not been developed at the time.Thus, Semmelweis concluded that some unknown cadavericmaterial' causedchildbed fever.Sincethe cadaverousmatter could
not beenremovedfromthe doctors'handsmerelyby washing themwithsoap
and waterSemmelweisstartedexperiments withdifferentchemicals. Finallyhe
prescribedthe additionaluse of chlorinated lime. Dueto this the deathrate
caused by puerperal fever deceasedto zero(see Table1.1).
Semmelweis lectured publicly about his results in 1850.However, the
receptionby the medical communitywas cold, if not hostile.His observations
went againstthe currentscientific opinionof that time,whichblameddiseases
on an imbalanceof the basic`humours'in the body.It was also arguedthat even
if his findings werecorrect, washingone'shandseachtimebeforetreatinga
pregnant woman,as Semmelweisadvised,wouldbe too much work. Nor were
doctors eagerto admitthat theyhad caused so many deaths.Semmelweisspent
14 yearsdevelopinghis ideas and lobbying for theiracceptance,culminatingin a
bookhe wrote in 1861(Semmelweis, 1861).The bookreceived poorreviews,
- A seriousformof septicaemiacontractedby a womanduringchildbirthor abortion(usually
attributableto unsanitaryconditions);formerlywidespread but nowuncommon.
4 Handbookof hygienecontrolin the foodindustry