January 24, 2019 Thursday
Bedtime Story
The Mystery of the Childbed Fever
Among the postpartum infections or the childbed
fever as Semmelweis used to call it the most common infection among these (or
was during his days) is the infection of the uterus also known as puerperal
sepsis or postpartum endometritis most often caused by Group B Streptococcus.
Endometrium as you know is the inner
epithelial layer lined with mucous membrane of mammalian uterus.
This is the layer that is shed monthly
during menstruation in human apes, our cousin apes, and even old world monkeys.
This is yet another reminder to men of
faith that we are apes no matter how fervently you wish to deny it.
Semmelweis made three very interesting
observations during his postings at the Obstetrics clinics of the Vienna
General Hospital:
One, that of the two clinics operating at
the maternity institutions, the first clinic had far higher incidence of
maternal mortality rate than the second clinic.
Secondly, that the underprivileged women
which included prostitutes would beg not to get admitted in the first clinic
preferring to giving birth on the streets.
They would pretend to have given birth en
route to the hospital rather than getting admitted into the first clinic.
This allowed them to claim the benefits
that the government was offering to the underprivileged women delivering at the
clinics set up by them.
Thirdly, and perhaps the most beguiling of
the three was Semmelweis’s observation that the women who would intentionally
deliver on the streets had far safer deliveries than those undergoing in the
first clinic.
This meant that the incidence of childbed
fever or postpartum infections such as bacterial endometritis was very low or
rare in women who were having child births on the streets.
This made Semmelweis wonder:
‘To me, it appeared logical that patients
who experienced street births would become ill at least as frequently as those
who delivered in the clinic.
What protected those that delivered outside
the clinic from these destructive unknown endemic influences?”
It greatly dispirited and exasperated
Semmelweis to see such a high discrepancy in the post partum infection rate
between the two clinics.
Yet unlike Hahnemann who got so
disheartened with medicine not only quitted it but also created a sham mumbo
jumbo that till today distorts people’s view on medicine Semmelweis rolled up
his sleeves and worked methodically on the puzzle that captivated him.
Please note how Semmelweis felt at the rate
of high infections of the First Clinic:
“It made me so miserable that life seemed
worthless.”
This is the sort of passionate association
he had with his work and profession.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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