Historical notes about handwashing

Revista Cubana de Estomatología

Rosales Reyes, Sol A¹  Raimundo Padrón, Edelis¹  Companioni Landín, Félix A¹ 

[1] Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de La Habana, La Hbana, Cuba

关键词: handwashing;    hand disinfection;    hand hygiene;    history;   

DOI  :  

学科分类：基础医学

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Introduction: handwashing continues to be a problem awaiting solution both in households and in health services worldwide. Objective: describe the main discoveries in the history of handwashing and the scientists associated with such findings. Methods: a search was conducted about the history of handwashing in resources available at the Virtual Health Library of Cuba. Three books were consulted from the library at Raúl González Sánchez School of Dentistry, as well as 84 papers from databases like Cumed, Pubmed, Lilacs and Ebsco. Of these only 22 were selected from the year 1981 onwards. The search terms used were lavado (washing), desinfección (disinfection), higienización de las manos (hand hygiene) and historia (history). Results: the introduction of handwashing as a hygienic measure to eliminate microorganisms from the hands dates back to the first half of the 19th century. Careful observation, analysis and the association of facts by eminent scientists witnessing the death of most hospitalized patients due to infection, led them to realize that the hands of doctors could carry particles that made their patients ill. This is the reason why they became tireless advocates of handwashing. Conclusions: the studies conducted by Semmelweis are the first clear, documented evidence of the benefits of handwashing for the control of infectious disease. His ideas still enjoy full recognition.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC