History Of Asepsis  Essay

Proper control of wound disease developed around two key moments: the adoption of antiseptic practices from the 1860s and the discovery of antibiotics from the late 1930s. Early Wound Management The earliest known attempts to access the dead date to circa 10,000 BC. Skulls collected all through the world show the square and round marks left by the ancient “healers” who ground and scraped the skull with sharpened instruments. Some people survived, as evidenced by the smoothed edges of few Neolithic skulls found in East Africa.History Of Asepsis Example Essay

Nevertheless, it may be assumed that the mortality and morbidity rates were very high and cannot be accepted to modern standards. Few years after the Neolithic era, so called surgeons had taken a more conservative approach to exploring skulls. Under the guidelines in The Code of Hammurabi (circa 1750 BC), surgeons of Mesopotamia were paid for their services; however, if the patient succumbed under their care, the surgeon’s hands were cut. With these high stakes, many surgeons had limited their patients to elective surgical procedures. Around this time the first account of attempted wound management appeared. The world’s oldest medical text outlines the procedures for wound management practiced by the Sumerians. The wound was cleansed with the alcholol from beer and then bandaged with a cloth drenched in wine and turpentine. The practice of using alcoholic drinks and turpentine would remain the treatment of choice until the modern era.History Of Asepsis Example Essay