Antiseptic, Aseptic

they were already embedded in the tissue. The use of antiseptics has significantly reduced the number of postoperative complications and significantly increased the effectiveness of surgical treatment.

Antiseptics and asepsis are a set of measures to disinfect wounds and objects that come into contact with them. The term "antiseptic" means the fight against bacteria that have already penetrated into the wound, and therefore this method has mainly medicinal value. On the other hand, “asepsis” is aimed at preventing the introduction of bacteria into the wound and has a preventive value.

Before the advent of antiseptics, surgical treatment was limited due to the large number of postoperative complications, such as postoperative erysipelas, hospital gangrene and sepsis. These complications sometimes became widespread and forced the temporary cessation of surgical practice in individual hospitals.

At that time it was not yet known that the causative agents of infectious complications were microbes, and the origin of these complications was explained by the influence of a certain pathogenic principle - the so-called “miasms”. The possibility of introducing “miasms” into the wound by the surgeon himself was not taken into account at all due to violation of basic hygienic requirements.

At that time, the Hungarian obstetrician I. Semmelweis and the Russian surgeon N.I. Pirogov were closer to a correct understanding of the nature of infectious complications. Semmelweis considered the staff of maternity hospitals to be the main carriers of the infection, and introduced the practice of treating the obstetrician’s hands and instruments with a bleach solution. This made it possible to reduce the incidence of puerperal fever. Pirogov associated the occurrence of “miasms” with an inflamed wound, where they are supposedly formed from swollen, suppurating or dead tissues and, released from these wounds, accumulate in the air of hospital wards in such quantities that they affect even those patients whose wound does not produce “miasms” ".

In 1863, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur proved that the processes of decay and fermentation are based on the vital activity of microorganisms. Based on his research, as well as his own observations, the English surgeon Joseph Lister concluded that infectious complications leading to enormous postoperative mortality are caused by microbes, and that disinfecting wounds and instruments can significantly reduce the risk of such complications. Lister developed a method for treating wounds with carbolic acid, which reduced the number of postoperative complications and significantly increased the effectiveness of surgical treatment.

Since then, antiseptic and aseptic methods have improved significantly. Modern antiseptics and aseptics include a wide range of drugs and treatment methods, such as antibiotics, disinfectant solutions, sterilization of instruments and much more. They represent a necessary set of measures to disinfect wounds and objects that come into contact with them, and help reduce the risk of developing infectious complications after surgery and other medical procedures.