Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865) – The father of infection control
Medical Review (Med. pregled), 2025, 61(2), 70-72.
R. Komitova1, L. Glomb2
1 Department of Infectious Diseases, Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, Medical Faculty, Medical University – Plovdiv
2 Physician, clinical virologist, member of the Expert Council for the medical specialty “Clinical Virology” and the National Expert Specialized Medical College of the Bulgarian Medical Association
Abstract. Few famous figures in medical history are more tragic than Prof. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweiss, a Hungarian physician, whose hand disinfection advocacy saved thousands of women’s lives. Although he could not reveal the exact mechanism of its action and it would be years before the germ theory emerged, his results were irrefutable. They clashed with the concepts of science and medicine at the time and were rejected. The medical community resisted changes and ignored them. As a result, the unnecessary loss of maternal life continued, and a persistent and dedicated pioneer was condemned to psychiatric isolation and early death. The insight he made – before the germ theory – was crucial to the basis of infection control.
Key words: puerperal fever, hand disinfection, Semmelweis