It was in September of 1865 that English surgeon and medical scientist Lord Joseph Lister performed the first antiseptic surgery. Building on the work of one of his contemporaries—Louis Pasteur—Lister deduced that organisms in the air and environment were entering surgical wounds. In his writings he noted: “…it occurred to me that decomposition in the injured part might be avoided without excluding the air, by applying as a dressing some material capable of destroying the life of the floating particles.”

While Lister’s method—which involved the use of carbolic acid—is no longer employed, his principle that bacteria must never gain entry to an operation wound remains the basis of surgical infection control to this day.

Lister is regarded as the founder of antiseptic medicine and a pioneer in preventive medicine. The antiseptic mouthwash Listerine™ is named in his honour. He died in February 1912. Source.

VCH is making its own infection control history

• Meet Tru-D: she’s smart, slick and a slayer!
• Squamish staff bring “bugs” to their knees
• VGH team takes top prize for pilot project to prevent surgical site infections