Childbed Fever: A Scientific Biography of Ignaz Semmelweis
1994; American Medical Association; Volume: 272; Issue: 23 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1001/jama.1994.03520230081049
ISSN1538-3598
Autores Tópico(s)Medicine and Dermatology Studies History
ResumoThere is a mission hospital in Africa named "Ile Abiye," which means "A House Where Babies Are Born Alive." The name reflects the gratitude of a people who saw the wonder of modern medical aseptic techniques and antibiotics bring life to an area where mothers gave birth to children under high-risk conditions. The Carters introduce Childbed Fever , their study of Dr Semmelweis and his times, by quoting from a senior physician of the 19th century who referred to "maternity clinics—birth houses, as they were called—[as] really houses of death." He stated that "the morgue is always full of corpses from the maternity wards, like fish on a slab." This delightful, clearly written little book is not so much the biography of a man as the biography of a disease: puerperal fever. Before the book is over we realize that the disease is but one manifestation of the ubiquitous streptococcus. The
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