Alexander Ogston, micrococci, and Joseph Lister.
This paper recalls the notable achievement, in 1880, of Alexander Ogston, a surgeon who, seeking the cause of suppuration, showed that acute abscesses result from micrococci. There were two kinds. One, arranged in chains, had been called streptococci already; the other, in clumps, he named staphylococci. He injected micrococci into animals. If blood poisoning occurred in them, it followed localized tissue infection. This information, applied to surgical events, suggested that the "hospital diseases" were a sequel to wound suppuration and explained why antiseptic surgery controlled both conditions. Ogston's observations are now common knowledge, but Lister rejected them. It is suggested he did so because he relied on intuition rather than experiment. The scene is set for Lister and Ogston's discoveries by a review of the historical background. Patients subjected to surgery faced a terrible ordeal and a very real chance of death from the mysterious hospital diseases. Surgeons viewed the mortality with bland detachment, blaming fate. But Simpson and Semmelweis were deeply concerned. However, puerperal fever was regarded as entirely distinct from the hospital diseases, and neither condition connected in any way with suppuration in wounds. Simpson, Semmelweis, Lister, and Ogston all found their ideas scorned by members of the profession, which may have feared being held responsible for deaths. Ogston's achievement lives on, but he has been forgotten. We should remember him.
Lyell
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D000985:Antisepsis / Q000266:history*; D001432:Bacteriology / Q000266:history; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D012606:Scotland; D013492:Suppuration