Hospital gangrene: the scourge of surgeons in the past.
Before the days of antisepsis, the infection rate on surgical wards was very high. Mortality from common operations such as limb amputations could run from 40% to 60%, mostly from infection. Hospital gangrene, a type of necrotizing infection, occurred frequently. It would spread rapidly, and the helpless surgeon could do nothing to stop it. The patient would be in agony for many days before death mercifully intervened.
Cohen
J
J
St Mary's and the Jewish General Hospitals, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
D000671:Amputation, Surgical / Q000401:mortality; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000266:history*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005734:Gangrene / Q000266:history* / Q000401:mortality; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000266:history*