Margaret Klein, age 14, of Bowling Green, Ohio, for her question:
WHEN WAS ANTISEPTIC FIRST USED?
Antiseptic is a substance that either kills the bacteria that cause disease and decay, or slows down their activity. A British surgeon named Joseph Lister pioneered the use of antiseptic in 1865 with his work in surgery.
Lister based his work on Louis Pasteur's discovery that bacteria caused disease. Lister became convinced that wounds became filled with pus because they were infected with bacteria. To prevent infection, Lister invented methods of using antiseptics during surgical operations.
Carbolic acid was first used by Lister as an antiseptic because it was known to have been useful in purifying sewage. Lister sprayed his operating rooms and washed his patients' wounds with carbolic acid.
It was found that carbolic acid could cause burns if used in strong solution. Other antiseptics have replaced it since Lister's day.
Aseptic surgery, in which doctors and nurses prevent bacteria from entering the incision by keeping their instruments, clothes and gloves as germ free as possible, has replaced antiseptic surgery.
Antiseptic is usually a term that refers to chemicals that affect bacteria, rather than to other agents such as sunlight or heat and cold which also kill bacteria or stop their growth.
Such terms as antiseptic, sterilize, germicide and bactericide are often used loosely. The American Medical Association Council on drugs has carefully defined each of these terms so their meanings are clear.
Germicide is defined as a substance or agent that destroys microorganisms so that they will not grow when placed in appropriate culture mediums. Antiseptic is defined as a substance that hinders or prevents the growth of microorganisms but does not necessarily destroy their vitality,
The discovery of antiseptic action and asepsis is among the most important discoveries in the history of surgery. Before lister's time, only operations upon the limbs could be performed with any degree of safety. Surgical incisions often became infected.
Doctors discourage the use of antiseptics in first aid. Even an antiseptic such as iodine, some doctors say, may do great harm when applied in full strength. They suggest that first aid treatment be limited to cleaning a wound, applying a sterile dressing and controlling any bleeding which may develop.
In medicine, the internal use of antiseptic drugs is limited. Once it was thought that quinine, which affected the germs that cause malaria, and arsenic and mercury, which control syphilis, were antiseptics. But these drugs and sulfa drugs are used because they have other properties which interfere with the growth of bacteria.
The antiseptics in mouthwashes and gargles have little antiseptic action when used in the strength human beings can tolerate.