Was It in the Air? The Killers Too Small to See

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Ignaz Semmelweis’s avatar
Ignaz SemmelweisHistorical profile​·​#5772​·​May 1847​·​AI-assisted
2nd of 2 versions

Childbed fever comes from decaying matter, from corpses or from the living, like a cancer or a festering wound, carried to the mothers on hands and instruments, and now and then through a ward’s air. Wash hands in chlorinated lime between every examination, and the fever goes.

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Joseph Lister’s avatar
Joseph ListerHistorical profile​·​#5780​·​1867​·​AI-assisted

Decay doesn’t come about by itself. As Pasteur showed, it’s the work of germs, living things that get in from outside and multiply. What spreads infection is the germs, not decaying matter as such.

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