History of Cross Contamination

= History of cross contamination =

Infectious diseases and outbreaks have contributed to the suffering of mankind before it was ever documented.The earlier development of diseases resulted from poor hygiene and poor living conditions, including improper disposal of trash, dead corpse and unsanitary drinking water. During the Middle Ages, and with no scientific knowledge of the spread of disease and its causes, people who were sick shared public baths with those who were healthy, and inevitably contaminated the water, spreading their disease. In 1388, sanitary regulations were enacted with a focus on waste disposal, homes and food sanitation.

During the embryonic stages of sanitation development, countries such as Mongolia, Europe, Africa, Asia including China endured one of history’s greatest epidemic called the Black Plague. Black Plague is a highly contagious skin infection that killed more than 43 million people (Petruševski, 2013, p.3). In China, this horrific disease consequently became airborne from the burning of infected rodents and fleas. Continuing this deadly rampage from China to Europe, the disease killed more than 25 million people. Doctors in the villages were puzzled y the unknown causes of the disease, but were eventually able to identify the symptoms through an examination. Doctors used a stick to examine the patient to avoid cross contamination of the disease.

During the 15th century, another deadly disease appeared, killing more than one third of Europe’s population, the Bubonic Plague. Doctors were also uncertain of its causes and therefore could not administer proper treatment such as mithridate, teriyak and bloodletting which yielded no results, so they began to quarantine the patients to control the spread of infection (Petruševski,2013, para.12).

In the 19th century, Florence Nightingale, a nursing educator suggested a new hospital layout, hygiene protocols, proper ventilation and safe waste management that would assist with the control of infection and diseases. The  hospital thought she had a brilliant idea and shortly incorporated more than one emergency and operating room; safe waste disposal away from bed side and installation of windows in patient’s room for ventilation and a safe place for cleaning and preparation of surgical instruments.