It's all about washing your hands!

I remember reading an excerpt from an essay as a case study in school, on the deleterious effects of doctors not washing their hands during routine patient examination and in doing so, spreading infectious diseases across wards. The Freakonomics blog has linked to the 1859 autobiographical essay by Ignaz Semmelweis titled - The Etiology Concept, And Prophylaxis Of Childbed Fever.

None of us knew that we were causing the numerous deaths

- Ignaz Semmelweis

It is frightful to imagine someone having to bear the guilt of unknowingly causing so many deaths.