Childbed fever : a scientific biography of Ignaz Semmelweis
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Childbed fever : a scientific biography of Ignaz Semmelweis
(Contributions in medical studies, no. 39)
Greenwood Press, c1994
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In the nineteenth century, tens of thousands of women died each year from childbed fever. The Carters describe birthing conditions and medical practices in Vienna during the time when young Semmelweis began to work in a maternity clinic there. He discovered that childbed fever arose because medical personnel did not wash adequately after dissecting corpses before doing vaginal examinations of women in labor. After he required students to disinfect themselves, the mortality rate immediately dropped. However, Semmelweis's views were not accepted by the senior physicians who believed the disease was due to a variety of causes. After strident attempts to persuade skeptics, Semmelweis was committed to a Viennese insane asylum where he died at age 42, possibly from beatings by asylum guards. Childbed fever, now called puerperal infection, continues to be a leading cause of maternal mortality, in spite of the best efforts of modern physicians.
Table of Contents
Vienna's General Hospital
Childbed Fever
Semmelweis's Discovery
Resorption Fever
Mayrhofer's Discovery
Puerperal Infection
Postscript
Selected Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"