CASE STUDY JOSEPH LISTER S ANTISEPTIC METHOD AND SPRAY APPARATUS Who was Lister? Joseph Lister was born in 1827 and worked as a successful surgeon. As a scientist, he developed the study of sterilisation in surgery by applying the germ theory of another great scientist, Louis Pasteur. His discovery helped to signi cantly reduce the spread of gangrene, germ growth, and wound sepsis. He also increased the safety of surgical operations, saving millions of lives. His original idea Lister suggested using a chemical substance, called carbolic acid, to disinfect fractures. Lister experimented with this substance by dipping a pad in carbolic acid solution and then applying it to the wound of an 11-year-old boy. Four days later, when replacing the pad, he saw that no infection had appeared, and the boy s bones had begun to fuse with no sign of suppuration. For the following two years he conducted experiments, and the results were published in six articles in The Lancet, from March 1867 to July 1867. Later, Lister adjusted his method, applying carbolic acid as a lotion directly to the raw wound in surgery, and shared his results with the British Medical Association. Lister advised surgeons to use some basic hygiene 1 rules: wearing clean gloves and washing their hands and instruments before and after procedures using a 5% carbolic acid solution. At the beginning, he used a small handheld device to spread the solution and clean the air, but this required the help of an extra person, so the following model of this spray apparatus was placed on a tripod and operated by using a long handle. Eventually, that model was also replaced, this time by a steam spray device. Side effects Despite all its bene cial effects, carbolic acid was also known to cause damage to living tissues, so Lister began to reduce its strength to avoid damages. It is likely that many of his patients suffered from carboluria, carbolic acid poisoning. However, even with this controversial side effect, the carbolic acid spray was used by scientists and surgeons all over the world. Today, asepsis and sterile techniques have replaced antisepsis as the principal method in ghting wound infection. Adapted from: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ articles/PMC9854334 Answer the questions. 1. Who was Lister? What great bene ts did his discovery have? 2. How did he develop his scienti c discovery? 3. How was the air in the operating room cleaned at the beginning? 4. Did his discovery have any negative effects on patients? 2 Joseph Lister: The Father of Modern Surgery posted by Human Progress to dip: immergere raw: infiammato surgeon: chirurgo wound: ferita PAIR WORK Watch the video about Joseph Lister and invent six true/false sentences about it to challenge your classmates. BODY AND MIND 69