Handwashing — where did it all begin?
Today, handwashing is a very common practice. It’s hard to imagine that as recently as the mid-19th century, doctors did not disinfect their hands before surgery. Who discovered the importance of soap and water, how did this impact the lives of thousands of people, and what has changed since then?
The link between handwashing and health was first recognized two centuries ago. Before that, no one associated food poisoning, diarrhea, cholera, or serious postoperative complications—even leading to death—with the failure to perform such a simple act.
The Beginnings
Ignaz Semmelweis is known as the father of antisepsis, and it is to him that we owe the recognition of the need to disinfect hands before performing medical examinations and procedures. Thanks to his observation and the introduction of new practices, the number of deaths in the maternity ward where he worked fell by half. In doing so, he proved that handwashing can prevent infection, but he was unable to popularize this habit. His view was dismissed as a fad rather than a scientific fact. Doctors continued to believe that puerperal fever was caused by weather conditions or other absurd reasons unrelated to the hospital environment. They refused to entertain the idea that dangerous bacteria and viruses could be transmitted to patients by the medical staff themselves.
A few years later, the world’s most famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, also observed a similar pattern in the development of infections. During the Crimean War, when medical professionals still believed that wound infections stemmed from the unpleasant odors in the camps, she implemented handwashing in field hospitals, which quickly yielded the desired results and led to a noticeable decrease in the number of infections. However, as in the case of Ignaz Semmelweis, her practices were not widely adopted either. It was not until Joseph Lister developed a system of antiseptic treatment, widely implemented in the 1880s, that this was achieved.
A Polish specialist also contributed to the development of antiseptics. Jan Mikulicz-Radecki is considered one of the pioneers in this field, thanks to his introduction of cotton surgical gloves. He was likely also the first to use cotton masks covering the mouth and nose, formerly known as the “Mikulicz mask.” Over time, increasingly strict rules for doctors were introduced, along with measures for hand disinfection in hospitals.
While antiseptics, as a field, developed relatively late, hand hygiene has been present in everyday life for a very long time. The history of soap, the most common cleaning agent, is long, dating back thousands of years to the time of ancient Babylon. It was subsequently popularized by the Romans, Celts, and Arabs, who also practiced the cult of a clean body, and handwashing itself existed primarily in the context of religious ceremonies and practices. It was performed before paying homage to gods or deities and was a ceremonial part of every faith. Priests encouraged believers to bathe as a means of purifying the body, which became an example of systematic hygiene practices. However, they did not yet recognize the connection between washing the body and health.
What did the 20th century bring?
Over the course of subsequent centuries, the concept of hygiene and the means to practice it evolved. However, it was not until the 20th century that societies around the world incorporated this practice into their daily lives as part of caring for their own health. It took many years to teach people to wash their hands not only when they are dirty. Bacteria and germs are invisible to the naked eye, so trying to change these habits was—and still is—no easy task. However, thanks to proper education on this topic, the benefits of handwashing are widely known. We know we should wash our hands before eating, upon returning home—especially from a public place—or after contact with animals and any objects where germs are particularly prevalent. In fact, every object is a bacterial time bomb, harboring tens of thousands of microorganisms. Simply touching the area around your eyes or mouth with unwashed hands puts you at a high risk of infection. To draw attention to this, the UN General Assembly designated October 15 as “Global Handwashing Day” in 2008. This observance aims to raise global awareness of how crucial handwashing is to people’s health and lives, as it can protect against infection with many diseases.
The late 20th century also brought many innovations in the form of additional products that help maintain proper hygiene, such as hand sanitizer sprays, which can be used when soap and water are not available. These products are effective against bacteria, yeast, tuberculosis bacilli, and viruses such as herpes, hepatitis, HIV, and the rotavirus, which causes gastrointestinal infections.
To prevent such infections, it is also important that beauty salons, hair salons, dental offices, and other establishments providing services involving skin contact maintain proper hygiene standards. Currently, there are many products available that ensure effective disinfection. It is important to apply them even to the smallest devices or their parts,
as well as to items such as beds or countertops. When used correctly, these products prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses. For them to be effective, you must observe the recommended contact time and select the appropriate product for the specific type of surface. This ensures they become an effective tool for maintaining proper hygiene while providing services.
It is important to teach children how to wash their hands properly from a very young age, especially since they are more susceptible to germs due to insufficient immunity. The sooner we incorporate this habit into their daily lives, the greater the chance that it will stay with them for life.
