The riveting (Houston Chronicle), captivating (Discover), and compulsively readable (San Francisco Chronicle) story of the discovery that handwashing helps prevent the spread of disease.Surgeon, scholar, best-selling author, Sherwin B. Nuland tells the strange story of Ignác Semmelweis with urgency and the insight gained from his own studies and clinical experience. Ignác Semmelweis is remembered for the now-commonplace notion that doctors must wash their hands before examining patients. In mid-nineteenth-century Vienna, however, this was a subversive idea. With deaths from childbed fever exploding, Semmelweis discovered that doctors themselves were spreading the disease. While his simple reforms worked immediately―childbed fever in Vienna all but disappeared―they brought down upon Semmelweis the wrath of the establishment, and led to his tragic end. Read more ISBN10 039332625X ISBN13 978-0393326253 Edition Reprint Language English Publisher W. W. Norton & Company Dimensions 5.5 x 0.7 x 8 inches Item Weight 6.4 ounces Print length 208 pages Part of series Great Discoveries Publication date November 17, 2004