MRSA and C Diff may be relative new-comers on the scene, but hospital acquired infections have been around as long as hospitals have. It was Joseph Lister's groundbreaking work on aseptic surgery which offered the first hope of a solution in this life-or-death situation.
Join Professor Hugh Pennington, an eminent microbiologist who has advised on numerous outbreaks of E-Coli, C Diff and other infections, who will be speaking at the Wellcome Library about his hero Lister, the impact of Lister's work and how it relates to the challenges facing us today. The event will be hosted by Quentin Cooper from Radio 4's Material World, and will feature a mystery object - to be revealed at the event.
Where: Wellcome Library
When: 15 June 2011, 19:00-20:00
Book free tickets for the event.
Author: Eleanor Lanyon
Showing posts with label Joseph Lister. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joseph Lister. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Stamp of Approval
Last week, Royal Mail released a set of stamps commemorating the contribution of ten Royal Society Fellows to the scientific world. Among these eminent scientists is the surgeon and pioneer of antisepsis, Joseph Lister, whose portrait was licensed from Wellcome Images to feature on the Special Stamps.Before Lister's introduction of antisepsis into clinical surgery in 1867, the mortality rate from postoperative infection was around 50 per cent. While a surgical procedure was often deemed 'successful', the same could not be said of the patient's return to health.
Inspired by the newly born germ theory, Lister made a connection between the fermentation process described by Louis Pasteur and the formation of pus in surgical wounds. Pasteur suggested that the exposure of the responsible microorganisms to a chemical solution would destroy them, which led Lister to discover that swabbing wounds with carbolic acid reduced the incidence of gangrene. Adoption of Lister's techniques caused mortality from amputation to drop from 45 to 15 per cent [1].
The rise of antiseptic surgery made possible the development of surgical techniques that have enabled the success of a wide range of procedures today. Wellcome Images holds a comprehensive collection of clinical photographs, accessible to healthcare professionals and for use in healthcare education, some of which show the results of operations that would not have been possible without Joseph Lister's contribution to medical science.
The Wellcome Library has an extensive range of material on Lister's life and achievements, including a collection of manuscripts, which recently inspired 'Exploring the Invisible', a Wellcome Trust-funded project, which culminated in a live installation at the Old Operating Theatre, and which we discussed in depth in previous posts.
(For more on the Royal Society stamps, there's an accompanying photo gallery on the Royal Society's website and an audio slideshow on the series on the BBC's website).
[1] Joseph Lister, On the effects of the antiseptic system of treatment upon the salubrity of a surgical hospital, Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, 1870
Author: Louise Crane
Monday, November 30, 2009
Exploring the Invisible
Back in July, we promised we would pass on more details when Exploring the Invisible - a Wellcome Trust funded collaboration between artist Anne Brodie, microbiologist Dr Simon Park and curator Dr Caterina Albano of Artakt – was installed at the Old Operating Theatre, St Thomas Street, London, SE1.This event is now scheduled for 4th – 8th December, culminating in a live installation, with human photographic projections appearing on the Old Operating Theatre’s ancient operating table.
Using photography lit by bacterial bioluminescence – and drawing on the personal papers of Joseph Lister held in the Wellcome Library - Exploring the Invisible investigates the complex ties between human health and microscopic bacteria. From the project's publicity:
Lister was an early pioneer of the use of antiseptics in surgery and the connection between bacteria and infections, together with the modern application in biomedical research of the bacterial gene responsible for emitting light, made it particularly fitting that bacteria should help to shed light – quite literally – on Lister’s life and work.
For more details, please see the Old Operating Theatre’s website.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Item of the month - July 2009
Suffused with an ethereal phosphorescent glow, artist Anne Brodie’s ghostly images cast new light on the human body's inextricable relationship with unseen forces of nature. In 'Exploring the Invisible', a Wellcome Trust funded collaboration with microbiologist Dr Simon Park and curator Dr Caterina Albano of Artakt, Anne uses photography lit by bacterial bioluminescence to investigate the complex ties between human health and microscopic bacteria.
The role of invisible microbes in spreading disease and infection is taken for granted today, but only came to the fore in the mid-19th century. Driven by public health epidemics and the devastating surgical mortality rates of large urban hospitals, researchers such as Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister worked towards a theory of infection by minute living organisms which transformed approaches to hygiene, surgery and public health.
Today bacteria play a crucial new role in contemporary biomedical research, with the light-emitting bacterium Photobacterium phosphoreum acting as a marker for tracking disease pathways. But in Anne's hands, P. phosphoreum also becomes a tool for tracing the private history of people and ideas.
Working with drawings, letters and notebooks by Joseph Lister from his personal papers at the Wellcome Library, Anne uses sealed plates of P. phosphoreum to illuminate Lister’s very human characteristics; his library fines, a complaining letter to his sister, the way in which he made his notes and filled his sketch book as a child help us to understand just who Joseph Lister was.
Modern technology such as CAT scans, X-ray fluorescence and multispectral imaging is increasingly being used to reveal the hidden contents in documents that would otherwise remain closed to research. But the beauty of the 'Exploring the Invisible' project is the symbiosis between the bioluminescence technology and the archives under the lens. What could be more fitting than for the unseen bacteria that Lister helped bring to light in the 1860s to illuminate the intimate self behind his public persona for a 21st century audience?
The project will culminate with an installation at the end of 2009 at the Old Operating Theatre at London Bridge, so keep an eye on Anne's website for further details.
The role of invisible microbes in spreading disease and infection is taken for granted today, but only came to the fore in the mid-19th century. Driven by public health epidemics and the devastating surgical mortality rates of large urban hospitals, researchers such as Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister worked towards a theory of infection by minute living organisms which transformed approaches to hygiene, surgery and public health.Today bacteria play a crucial new role in contemporary biomedical research, with the light-emitting bacterium Photobacterium phosphoreum acting as a marker for tracking disease pathways. But in Anne's hands, P. phosphoreum also becomes a tool for tracing the private history of people and ideas.
Working with drawings, letters and notebooks by Joseph Lister from his personal papers at the Wellcome Library, Anne uses sealed plates of P. phosphoreum to illuminate Lister’s very human characteristics; his library fines, a complaining letter to his sister, the way in which he made his notes and filled his sketch book as a child help us to understand just who Joseph Lister was.Modern technology such as CAT scans, X-ray fluorescence and multispectral imaging is increasingly being used to reveal the hidden contents in documents that would otherwise remain closed to research. But the beauty of the 'Exploring the Invisible' project is the symbiosis between the bioluminescence technology and the archives under the lens. What could be more fitting than for the unseen bacteria that Lister helped bring to light in the 1860s to illuminate the intimate self behind his public persona for a 21st century audience?
The project will culminate with an installation at the end of 2009 at the Old Operating Theatre at London Bridge, so keep an eye on Anne's website for further details.
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