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Review
. 2021 Sep 15;62(3):E621-E624.
doi: 10.15167/2421-4248/jpmh2021.62.3.2161. eCollection 2021 Sep.

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and the Teaching of Ignaz Semmelweis and Florence Nightingale: a Lesson of Public Health from History, after the "Introduction of Handwashing" (1847)

Mariano Martini  1 , Donatella Lippi  2
Affiliations
Review

SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and the Teaching of Ignaz Semmelweis and Florence Nightingale: a Lesson of Public Health from History, after the "Introduction of Handwashing" (1847)

Mariano Martini et al. J Prev Med Hyg. .

Abstract

Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-1865) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) were two important personalities in the history of medicine and public health. They dealt with the problem of handwashing. Semmelweis is also known as the "father of hand hygiene"; just in 1847 he discovered the etiology and prophylaxis of puerperal sepsis and imposed a new rule mandating handwashing with chlorine for doctors. He also tried to persuade European scientific community of the advantages of handwashing. During the Crimean War, in Scutary (Turkey), Florence Nightingale strengthened handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital where she worked and her handwashing practices reached a reductions in infections. Unfortunately the hygiene practices promoted by Semmelweis and Nightingale were not widely adopted. In general handwashing promotion stood still for over a century. During current pandemic SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) one of the most important way to prevent the spread of the virus is still to wash the hands frequently.

Keywords: F. Nightingale; Hand hygiene; Hand washing; History of public health; I. Semmelweis; SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

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Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-1865) [Wikipedia commons]
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Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)2 [Wikipedia commons]
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[Florence Nightingale, An angel of mercy. Scutari hospital 1855 [Wikipedia commons]
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Statue of Semmelweis in front of Szent Rókus Hospital, Budapest, Hungary (erected in 1904, work of Alajos Stróbl) [Wikipedia commons]
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Semmelweis’s main work: Die Ätiologie, der Begriff und die Prophylaxis des Kindbettfiebers, 1861 (front page) [Wikipedia commons]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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