Cargando…

The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing

Handwashing is a simple method for preventing the spread of pathogens. It is now common practice, but this was not always the case. Advocating for it often costed a doctor his career in the 1840s. Hospitals in the early 1800s had little idea of the significance of hygiene; thus, they were often mock...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Poczai, Peter, Karvalics, László Z.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9632745/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36339162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.979464
_version_ 1784824102278660096
author Poczai, Peter
Karvalics, László Z.
author_facet Poczai, Peter
Karvalics, László Z.
author_sort Poczai, Peter
collection PubMed
description Handwashing is a simple method for preventing the spread of pathogens. It is now common practice, but this was not always the case. Advocating for it often costed a doctor his career in the 1840s. Hospitals in the early 1800s had little idea of the significance of hygiene; thus, they were often mocked as disease-producing incubators or as “houses of death.” Many of the ill and dying were kept on wards with no ventilation or access to clean water; hospitals were found to offer only the most basic care. The mortality rate for patients admitted to hospital was three to five times greater than that for individuals cared for at home. Doctors did not routinely wash their hands until the mid-1800s, and they would proceed straight from dissecting a corpse to delivering a baby, providing the basis for the spread of puerperal fever. Despite advances in modern medicine, healthcare providers still face the issue of infection outbreaks caused by patient care. While the body of scientific data supporting hand hygiene as the key strategy to prevent the spread of pathogens is substantial, we highlight that achieving this crucial, long-awaited breakthrough was a hard task through history.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-9632745
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2022
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-96327452022-11-04 The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing Poczai, Peter Karvalics, László Z. Front Public Health Public Health Handwashing is a simple method for preventing the spread of pathogens. It is now common practice, but this was not always the case. Advocating for it often costed a doctor his career in the 1840s. Hospitals in the early 1800s had little idea of the significance of hygiene; thus, they were often mocked as disease-producing incubators or as “houses of death.” Many of the ill and dying were kept on wards with no ventilation or access to clean water; hospitals were found to offer only the most basic care. The mortality rate for patients admitted to hospital was three to five times greater than that for individuals cared for at home. Doctors did not routinely wash their hands until the mid-1800s, and they would proceed straight from dissecting a corpse to delivering a baby, providing the basis for the spread of puerperal fever. Despite advances in modern medicine, healthcare providers still face the issue of infection outbreaks caused by patient care. While the body of scientific data supporting hand hygiene as the key strategy to prevent the spread of pathogens is substantial, we highlight that achieving this crucial, long-awaited breakthrough was a hard task through history. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC9632745/ /pubmed/36339162 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.979464 Text en Copyright © 2022 Poczai and Karvalics. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Poczai, Peter
Karvalics, László Z.
The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
title The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
title_full The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
title_fullStr The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
title_full_unstemmed The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
title_short The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
title_sort little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9632745/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36339162
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.979464
work_keys_str_mv AT poczaipeter thelittleknownhistoryofcleanlinessandtheforgottenpioneersofhandwashing
AT karvalicslaszloz thelittleknownhistoryofcleanlinessandtheforgottenpioneersofhandwashing
AT poczaipeter littleknownhistoryofcleanlinessandtheforgottenpioneersofhandwashing
AT karvalicslaszloz littleknownhistoryofcleanlinessandtheforgottenpioneersofhandwashing