IDRR APRIL -MAY -JUNE 2020 - Flipbook - Page 55
INFECTION CONTROL
DR GEORGIE P ZACHARIAH
JUNIOR RESIDENT
DR GEORGE SKARIAH P
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
A SERIES ON INFECTION
CONTROL Part 1
Prologue “Tracing the evolution of infection control through the ages”
he subject of Infection is one that fascinates
a Historian and of course a healthcare
professional. It is indeed fascinating to both
as it encompasses more than 4000 years of
human social evolution, in which predecessors of
modern-day medicine existed in its primitive forms.
Three decades ago, Sydney Selwyn traced the history
of hospital infection over 2 500 years. Even today, his
attempt to trace trough the history and evolution of
infection control still remains a landmark occurrence.
He reminds us of Florence Nightingale’s favorite
T
July-August-September 2019
dictum: ‘The first requirement of a hospital is that it
should do the sick no harm’(1). Florence Nightingale’s
dictum still remains significance to its utmost essence
and meaning.
THE ANCIENT ERA (TIME IMMEMORIAL – 5AD)
It was around 500 BC that organized medical and
healthcare systems came into being throughout the
oriental civilized world that existed then namely in
India, Greece, Palestine and Egypt. The concepts of
infection control or rather hygiene stemmed out of
www.idrr.in
55