Germ Theory and Hygiene: Semmelweis, Pasteur, Koch

mid 1800s

doctors didn't wash their hands

childbed fever

Ignaz Semmelweis

hypotesis: particles to blame

ordered doctors to wash hands

Louis Pasteur: killing germs with heat

later: attitude to hygiene changed

great resistence

people were offended

success

mortality of mothers dropped

Robert Koch: anthrax bacillus

cholera, tubercolosis, identified

surgeons started to wash hands

later: everybody starts it

Nightingale: household cleanliness

public health campaigns

death rates dropped

vaccines, antibiotics

fear of germs

cleanliness: less important

hippy culture

1970s: STDs

caring more about hygiene

handwashing compliance still low

pandemic

handwashing lowers the risk