CHILDBED FEVER A Nineteenth-Century Mystery by Christa Colyer School of Science

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CHILDBED FEVER A Nineteenth-Century Mystery by Christa Colyer School of Science University of Ontario Institute of Technology PART I Ignaz Semmelweis, a young Hungarian doctor working in the obstetrical ward of Vienna General Hospital in the late 1840s, was dismayed at the high death rate among his patients. He had noticed that nearly 20% of the women under his and his colleagues' care in "Division I" of the ward (that is, the division attended by physicians and male medical students) died shortly after childbirth. This phenomenon had come to be known as "childbed fever." Alarmingly, Semmelweis noted that this death rate was four to five times greater than that in "Division II" of the ward (that is, the division attended by female midwifery students) IGNAZ PHILIPP SEMMELWEIS 1818 50 REPUBLIK OSTERREICH Study Questions: 1. 2. 3. What were Semmelweis' initial observations? What was the problem at hand? What possible explanatory story might Semmelweis come up with? How might Semmelweis test his suspicions? 4. PART II One day, Semmelweis and some of his colleagues were in the autopsy room performing autopsies as they often did between deliveries. They were discussing their concerns about death rates from childbed fever. One of Semmelweis' friends was distracted by the conversation, and he punctured his finger with the scalpel. Days later, Semmelweis' friend became quite sick, showing symptoms not unlike those of childbed fever. His friend's ultimate death strengthened Semmelweis' resolve to understand and prevent childbed fever Study Questions: 1. 2. What might Semmelweis now propose as an explanatory story? How could Semmelweis test his new hypothesis?

Explanation / Answer

Part 1:

1. Ignaz semmelweis observed high death rate among his women patients, who died after childbirth.

2. He observed that the death rate was four to five times higher in the ward attended by physicians and male medical students than in the ward attended by female midwifery students.

3. Semmelweis may explain that the female midwifery students may be more familiar with female anatomy than the physicians and the male medical students.

4. Semmelweis may observe and compare the method followed by the female midwifery students to that of the physicians and male medical students.

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