You'll never guess which medical discovery has saved the most lives

With the power of technology and science, many life-saving advancements have been made in recent decades. However, one medical discovery was so great that it saved countless lives after its introduction nearly two centuries ago and continues to be put into practice to this day.

Handwashing. Yes, we may take hand hygiene for granted today, even more so after living through the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, "Researchers estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, 1 million deaths a year could be prevented."

Particularly with doctors, we expect doctors to wash their hands before examining us or performing an operation to avoid spreading nasty germs, but that wasn't always the case.

You may be surprised to learn that physician hand hygiene was not always a thing. In fact, according to the Global Handwashing Partnership, up until 1847, doctors did not tend to do anything more than wipe their hands on a towel or rag after examining one patient before moving on to the next.

It seems pretty wild to think that doctors didn't consider washing their hands necessary, and even crazier to realize that they even made fun of some of those who promoted handwashing in the beginning!

The man who made this remarkable discovery was Dr Ignaz Semmelweis, a Jewish Hungarian doctor who managed to land a position at the Vienna General Hospital.

Photo: By József Borsos - Ágnes Szemerédi: A fényképészet úttörői, OSZK blog, 2022 [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123555011

Due to his heritage and religion, Dr Semmelweis was given the less desirable job of running the obstetrics wards. And he soon became obsessed with solving a very concerning problem.

At that time in Europe, according to History.com, around every 5 of 1,000 women died during deliveries performed by midwives or at home.

However, when women gave birth in the best maternity hospitals in Europe and America, the maternal death rate was frequently 10 to 20 times greater.

Dr Semmelweis could not understand why giving birth in a hospital ward was so much more dangerous for women and was determined to find out what was happening.

Furthermore, the death these women experienced was not pleasant. Puerperal fever caused horrible fevers, pus, and painful abscesses until sepsis and death overtook them. All of this usually occurred within the first 24 hours after giving birth.

However, according to the Global Handwashing Partnership, in 1846, Dr Semmelwis finally had his "ah-ha" moment after noticing that in his own hospital, the mothers who were attended to only by midwives faired far better than those who were attended to by medical students and doctors.

After some investigation, Semmelwis discovered that prior to visiting the maternity ward, the doctors and medical students started their day off by performing autopsies.

The good doctor concluded that these medical students and doctors must carry "cadaverous particles" on their hands, contaminating the patients.

It is now known that these "particles" are the bacteria called Group A hemolytic streptococcus. In contrast, midwives never conducted surgery or autopsies and, therefore, were not exposed to these harmful "particles".

Photo Credit: Content Providers(s): - This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #2110.

Dr Semmelweis then created a new rule that all doctors at the hospital needed to wash their hands with chlorine.

As a result the death rates in the maternity ward were soon drastically reduced, resulting in the first proof that washing hands could prevent infection.

Image: By Power.corrupts - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4765094

Unfortunately, the medical community was not ready to embrace Semmelweis' discovery and advice, and many doctors were unhappy that he was implying that they were responsible for the death of their patients.

Photo: By Ludwig Angerer - Semmelweis Museum of Medical History [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123632632

Many even stopped washing their hands altogether, citing a counterargument that they believed the popular notion at the time that water was the cause of disease.

Just a few short years later, in Scutari, Italy, an English nurse, Florence Nightingale, was assisting patients during the Crimean War when she came to a similar conclusion.

Photo: By Henry Hering (1814-1893) - National Portrait Gallery, London, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61520366

In the mid-19th century, many believed that infections were due to nasty odours called miasmas. Nightingale introduced handwashing as an essential practice at the war hospital where she was working to combat these miasmas.

Through handwashing and other hygiene practices she introduced at the hospital, Florence Nightingale drastically reduced the number of infections the patients contracted.

One would think that fantastic results from such a simple practice would cause the practice of handwashing to be embraced by the medical community, particularly since the measure's effectiveness had now been proven twice. Unfortunately, that was not the case, and handwashing failed to take off as a common practice.

According to an article on the subject by Global Handwashing Partnership, the practice was not widely adopted and would not truly be appreciated until the 1980s!

In the 1980s, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognized that hand hygiene was one of the best ways to prevent infection, a conclusion reached after several foodborne and healthcare-associated illnesses led to public concern.

Since then, this knowledge has been widely shared across the globe and has saved countless lives.

It is a cheap and effective way to prevent the spread of disease. So next time you are in a hurry and think you don't have time to give your hands a wash, think twice!