Joseph Lister's Fight Against Infection
Joseph Lister was more significant in the fight against infection in surgery than Ignaz Semmelweiss? Discuss.
Joseph Lister was one of the outstanding surgeons of the nineteenth century. He had research gangrene and infections and had a keen interest in the application of science to medicine. By using Pasteur’s germ theory, experimented with carbolic spray acid, which was used to treat sewage.
Joseph Lister is one of the pioneers of Infection Control. Not only did he reduce the incidence of wound infection by the introduction of antiseptic surgery using carbolic acid, but also he was the first to apply Pasteur's principles to humans. He showed that urine could be kept sterile after boiling in swan-necked flasks. He was the first person to isolate bacteria in pure culture using liquid cultures containing either Pasteur's solution of …show more content…
His success rate for survival was very high. Lister then developed his idea further by devising a machine that pumped out a fine mist of carbolic acid into the air around an operation. Using this method, Lister drastically reduced death rates. Like Semmelweis, Lister had to fight to get his methods accepted. Unlike Semmelweis, Lister gained acceptance and recognition within his own lifetime. Some surgeons complained that carbolic spray cracked their hands, soaked the operation rooms and made the room smell unpleasant. On October 26 1877, Lister, for the first time, carried out the operation under antiseptic conditions. News of the operation was widely publicized arousing much opposition but its eventual success forced surgical opinion throughout the world to accept that his methods greatly added to the safety of operative surgery. Opposition was great In England and the United States mainly against Lister's germ theory rather than against his "carbolic treatment." People would often laugh at him but it was said the Lister didn’t pay any attention to there
Joseph Lister was one of the outstanding surgeons of the nineteenth century. He had research gangrene and infections and had a keen interest in the application of science to medicine. By using Pasteur’s germ theory, experimented with carbolic spray acid, which was used to treat sewage.
Joseph Lister is one of the pioneers of Infection Control. Not only did he reduce the incidence of wound infection by the introduction of antiseptic surgery using carbolic acid, but also he was the first to apply Pasteur's principles to humans. He showed that urine could be kept sterile after boiling in swan-necked flasks. He was the first person to isolate bacteria in pure culture using liquid cultures containing either Pasteur's solution of …show more content…
His success rate for survival was very high. Lister then developed his idea further by devising a machine that pumped out a fine mist of carbolic acid into the air around an operation. Using this method, Lister drastically reduced death rates. Like Semmelweis, Lister had to fight to get his methods accepted. Unlike Semmelweis, Lister gained acceptance and recognition within his own lifetime. Some surgeons complained that carbolic spray cracked their hands, soaked the operation rooms and made the room smell unpleasant. On October 26 1877, Lister, for the first time, carried out the operation under antiseptic conditions. News of the operation was widely publicized arousing much opposition but its eventual success forced surgical opinion throughout the world to accept that his methods greatly added to the safety of operative surgery. Opposition was great In England and the United States mainly against Lister's germ theory rather than against his "carbolic treatment." People would often laugh at him but it was said the Lister didn’t pay any attention to there