1 janv. 1867 - Antiseptics

Description:

Whilst anaesthetics solved the problem of pain, patients were still dying from infection extensively. Until the acceptance of the Germ Theory in 1861, surgeons did not take any precautions to protect wounds from infection.

Ignaz Semmelweis showed that doctors could reduce the spread of infection by washing their hands with chloride of lime solution between patients. However, it was very unpleasant, so was not widely used.
Joseph Lister had seen carbolic acid sprays used in sewage works to reduce the smell; he tried this in operating theatre in the early 1860s and saw limited infection rates. He knew about Pasteur's Germ Theory in 1865 and realised that germs could be in air, on surgical instruments and on surgeon's hands, and so he started using carbolic acid on instruments and bandages. In 1867 he published his results, showing the value of antiseptic carbolic acid. He also insisted that doctors and nurses should wash their hands in carbolic acid before operations to avoid infection from their hands getting into wounds, and invented an antiseptic ligature to tie up blood vessels and prevent blood loss.

The use of antiseptics immediately reduced death rates from as high as 50% in 1864-66 to around 15% in 1867-70. The number of operations between 1867 and 1912 increased tenfold as a result. However, many surgeons opposed Lister because: carbolic acid smelled and cracked the surgeon's hands, Lister's methods slowed down surgery and made it expensive, some surgeons still didn't believe in Pasteur's Germ Theory, Lister was always changing his techniques and critics said it was because they didn't work.

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