Meet the unsung hero who first told the world that handwashing is important 

Every day, scientist's contributions to medicine save lives. Take the example of the speedy delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine. But we often overlook one man’s contribution, without whom all these discoveries would have been futile. Meet Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor. He instilled in the world the importance of washing hands before medical procedures! Dr. Semmelweis was the first to develop the germ theory, which saved the lives of mothers and newborn. Unfortunately, he had a difficult life. He was harassed and committed to a mental institution. Why? Continue reading to find out! 

The childbirth fever 
In 1846, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis began working as an obstetrician at the Vienna General Hospital. The following year, he was promoted to the head of the maternity ward, where he soon made a ground-breaking discovery. During that time, many new mothers were dying due to childbirth fever, soon after giving birth. The symptoms displayed by all such women were identical. However, the precise cause of their deaths was still a mystery. A few doctors believed the fever resulted from inhaling potentially harmful particles in the air. Some simply assumed that the mother’s condition was to blame. However, none of these explanations fit the puzzle.  

Dr. Semmelweis comes up with his germ theory 
As the head of the maternity ward, Dr. Semmelweis soon noticed something strange about the mysterious deaths of mothers. He found that women who were cared for by midwives died at a lower rate than those admitted to the hospital. How can someone have a greater chance of dying in the hands of a trained professional than in the hands of untrained midwives, he wondered. And it was only after this realisation that he cracked the code! He found that doctors who tended to women during delivery had just returned from autopsies, without washing their hands! He hypothesised that germs were being transferred from one location to the next. And this is how Dr Semmelweis came up with the concept of germ theory in the year 1847! Since then, Dr. Semmelweis mandated that all doctors and students to sanitise their hands with chlorine and lime before entering the maternity ward. And guess what? The mortality rate dropped dramatically! 

The tragic end of Dr. Semmelweis 
You’d imagine that revealing the benefits of hand washing would earn him respect and fame. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The medical community dismissed Dr. Semmelweis’ theory. As a result, his germ theory was never published. In the following years, Dr Semmelweis was harassed and even dismissed from the hospital. He never returned to work and gradually sank into depression. His mental condition deteriorated, and he was admitted to a mental asylum in 1865. As fate would have it, he died here from an infection in his right hand! 

Dr Semmelweis’s contribution to germ theory took years to be recognised. Today, washing our hands has become a habit is an essential habit. The COVID-19 pandemic re-popularized the importance of hand washing.