Transcript Alexander_Gordon_FINALx - Aberdeen

Keep it Clean Aberdeen:
Fact Sheet 2
A Forgotten Hero:
Dr Alexander Gordon of Aberdeen
Puerperal fever or sepsis is an infection contracted at the birth of a baby. It is one
of the leading causes of delivery-related deaths among mothers in developing
countries today. This is an unacceptable reality in the 21st century, particularly
since we have known how to prevent birth-related infections for over 200 years!
In fact it was an Aberdeen-based doctor who was the first to tell us how.
Copyright North of Scotland Health Service Archive
In 1795, Alexander Gordon
published A Treatise on the
Epidemic Puerperal Fever of
Aberdeen which described the
infectious nature of puerperal fever
and recommended the disinfection
of the hands and clothes of health
care staff.
“It is a disagreeable declaration for me to mention that I myself was the
means of carrying the infection to a great number of women”
Alexander Gordon, 1795
While the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis is better
known as the “father of modern infection control”, his
findings were published over half a century after Gordon’s
Treatise. It was Gordon who identified the importance of
hygiene in infection prevention and control 100 years
before studies of bacteria confirmed his findings.
Today, research at the University of Aberdeen continues to show the importance
of infection prevention and control and ways to enable all mothers and babies to
benefit from clean safe care at birth. For more information, visit www.immpactinternational.org and www.soapboxcollaborative.org.
www.soapboxcollaborative.org
Source: Gould, I. (2010) Alexander Gordon, puerperal sepsis, and modern theories of infection control – Semmelweis in perspective. The Lancet Infectious
Disease 10: 275-278; http://www.inamay.com/article/why-midwifery