Problem #2 - Infection

Question 1

What did Joseph Lister use to get rid of germs during his operations?

Answer 1

Carbolic spray.

Question 2

What was carbolic spray originally used to clean?

Answer 2

Sewers.

Question 3

How did he use the spray?

Answer 3

1. He washed and kept all utensils in it.
2. He dipped all bandages in the solution.
3. Had a spray pump constantly spraying carbolic solution during the operation to keep the room clean. All utensils had to be passed through the spray.
4. He put all ligatures in the solution to keep them sterile.

Question 4

What were the original ligatures used by Lister made of?

Answer 4

Silk.

Question 5

Why did Lister have to stop using silk ligatures?

Answer 5

They didn’t absorb the carbolic acid.

Question 6

What did Lister use instead if silk for ligature?

Answer 6

Cat gut.

Question 7

Why did some people oppose Lister’s ideas and methods?

Answer 7

1. Lister kept changing his idea to make them better, but some people thought this was him showing that he didn’t know what he was doing.
2. The doctors and nurses resented all the preparation they had to do when preparing for an operation using Lister’s methods.
3. Some doctors had good results without using Lister’s methods and therefore didn’t see the need to use them.
4. Sometimes the carbolic acid made the skin in doctors hands sore and cracked.
5. Lister couldn’t prove his theory, so many didn’t believe that tiny microbes could cause infection.

Question 8

What did Semmelweiss do?

Answer 8

He realised that more women were dying in his hospital when their doctors were delivered by doctors, rather than midwives. He realised that this was because doctors were going straight from the morgue and dissecting bodies, to the delivery room, without washing their hands, and infecting the mothers. He ordered every doctor to wash their hands in a chlorinated solution before touching a patient. But his ideas were largely ignored at the time and he eventually left medicine and developed mental health issues as no one believed him and laughed at it his ideas.

Question 9

What is aseptic surgery?

Answer 9

Sterile, free from the microbes that cause infection.

Question 10

What was antiseptic surgery?

Answer 10

Surgery that used liquids during it to get rid of infection and and the microbes that create infection.