Google Doodle Celebrates Handwashing To Prevent Infection

Today’s Google Doodle is devoted to Hungarian doctor Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, the first person to find health advantages of handwashing. He concluded and exhibited that if specialists practicing hand sanitization produced significant reduction in the transmission of infection.

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis taught handwashing

He was named Chief Resident in the maternity facility of the Vienna General Hospital where he experimented with handwashing technique to the world. He was doing his residency at the hospital at that time when suddenly an unknown disease increased the death rate in new moms in maternity wards across Europe.

The disease was named “childbed fever” and the medical fraternity found it quite baffling and difficult to comprehend. But Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was committed to find the real cause of the disease. He observed that the visiting specialists were transmitting the disease. His careful examination allowed him to see that the disease was transmitted to powerless moms through irresistible material from prior tasks and dissections.

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis immediately made it a prerequisite for all clinical staff to wash their hands in the middle of patient assessments. And it worked well. The disease rate in his division was reduced significantly.

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis’ achievements

Born in Buda in 1818, Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis earned a graduate degree in birthing assistance and later on went for doctorate from the University of Vienna. On March 20, 1847, he was made Chief Resident. Today, he is known as “the father of infection control.”

Source: https://bit.ly/2U7ry9Y

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