<P> Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis ( German : ( ɪˈɡnaːts ˈzɛml̩vaɪs ) ; Hungarian : Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 -- 13 August 1865 ) was a Hungarian physician of ethnic - German ancestry , now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures . Described as the `` saviour of mothers '' , Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever ( also known as `` childbed fever '' ) could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics . Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th - century hospitals and often fatal . Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital 's First Obstetrical Clinic , where doctors ' wards had three times the mortality of midwives ' wards . He published a book of his findings in Etiology , Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever . </P>
<P> Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis ( German : ( ɪˈɡnaːts ˈzɛml̩vaɪs ) ; Hungarian : Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp ; 1 July 1818 -- 13 August 1865 ) was a Hungarian physician of ethnic - German ancestry , now known as an early pioneer of antiseptic procedures . Described as the `` saviour of mothers '' , Semmelweis discovered that the incidence of puerperal fever ( also known as `` childbed fever '' ) could be drastically cut by the use of hand disinfection in obstetrical clinics . Puerperal fever was common in mid-19th - century hospitals and often fatal . Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in Vienna General Hospital 's First Obstetrical Clinic , where doctors ' wards had three times the mortality of midwives ' wards . He published a book of his findings in Etiology , Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever . </P>
when did health care workers first use chlorine solution to decontaminate hands
when did health care workers first use chlorine solution to decontaminate hands
1847
1847