As the deadly COVID-19 continues to spread all over the world and claiming lives day by day. Google is dedicating the doodle to the man who invented hand washing. Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis is known as the father of infection control.
This is because he is known as the first person to discover the medical benefits of handwashing.
During this time of the pandemic that has claimed more than 8,000 lives and over 200,000 cases worldwide.
One of the things that is slowing the spread of this virus is washing hands thoroughly with soap.
This helps in removing germs from our hands. In case you have no access to water and soap you can make use of hand sanitizers.
It is during this time that the importance of washing hands is being seen more.
Google chooses to spread awareness by remembering the man who found out the benefits of handwashing. As well as reminding people of the importance of doing so.
Who Is Ignaz Semmelweis
Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician who was born in 1818. On this day in 1847, this doctor demonstrated how important it was to clean hands.
He had just been appointed as the chief resident at Vienna General Hospital in the maternity section.
How Ignaz Semmelweis Introduced Hand Washing
After being appointed as the chief resident at the Vienna General Hospital maternity clinic. Semmelweis started asking all physicians to disinfect their hands with a solution when attending to patients.
He asked them to muse a solution called Chlorinated lime.
Soon after he started working at this clinic he found out about an infection that was called childbed fever.
It was leading to many deaths of new mothers, not that hospital only but across Europe.
As a person with qualifications in midwifery, he dedicated his time to find out the cause of the problem.
His conclusion was that it was due to uncleanliness as doctors infected patients through their hands.
The problem was cleanliness, disinfecting hands and unfortunately, it was something that was ignored and also ridiculed.
When he implemented that all staff should wash their hands before patients examinations, infection rates began to decrease. Mortality rates decreased from 18.27% to 1.27%.
What Became Of Ignaz Semmelweis Solution
Unfortunately, Semmelweis’s idea was not received well by some of his peers.
It even led to him being dismissed from the hospital and it was said that it was due to political reasons. A series of events happened until the day he died.
His thesis did not die as it happened that later on after decades his theories were validated as there was a widespread of acceptance of the germ theory disease.
This theory was further developed by one man named Louis Pasteur.
He explained theoretically what Semmelweis ‘s findings meant. Washing of hands gained popularity but unfortunately, Semmelweis was already dead.
Ignaz Semmelweis On The Google Doodle
Google doodle today is not only paying tribute to this Dr’s work. It is also looking to educate people all over the world on how to properly wash your hands.
Like we mentioned washing hands is one of the most important things to do to wash away germs from our hands. even after playing your online casino games on your mobile wash your hands as the device itself carries germs.
Conclusion
Dr. Semmelweis is proof that no good deed goes unnoticed. Today he is being celebrated by google. For introducing something that is today helping the world and help in fighting germs that have killed thousands of people around the world.
Washing hands is widely advised especially now that there is a widespread of coronavirus.
In case you are not close to water and soap, it is advised that you use sanitizers as the alcohol used helps not to just remove germs but to kill them.
Ignaz Semmelweis FAQs
[accordiongroup id=”602″][accordion group=”602″ title=”Who is Ignaz Semmelweis?” active=”true”]He is a Hungarian physician, known to be the pioneer of hand washing. Semmelweis was born in 1818 and he died in 1847 at the age of 47.[/accordion][accordion group=”602″ title=”How Did Ignaz Semmelweis Died?” active=””]Semmelweis died in 1847 just 14 days after he was put lunatic asylum. After he was dismissed from the hospital he worked for, he became angry and started writing to prominent European obstetricians calling them irresponsible murders. He was believed to be mentally unstable and in 1865 he was put to a provincial lunatic asylum. It is there he died of septic shock. Some believe it was due to severe beating by the guards.[/accordion][accordion group=”602″ title=”What is Semmelweis Celebrated For?” active=””]He is known to be the first man to pioneer the importance of washing hands. This Dr introduced hand disinfection when he was working at a maternity clinic in Vienna in 1847. With so many new mothers dying, he investigated and noticed that they were getting infected by doctors who worked on them with dirty hands. That is when he asked all practitioners working to first disinfect their hands before attending to patients.[/accordion][accordion group=”602″ title=”What’s The Importance of washing your hands?” active=””]Washing your hands with soap helps in removing germs from your hands. It is normal for people to touch their eyes, nose as well as their mouth. [/accordion][/accordiongroup]