"1847: Wash Your Hands"

Question

by Marguerite Vigliani, MD; Gale Eaton

Ignatz Semmelweis was appalled. The Vienna hospital where he worked was world famous for its obstetrics department,1
but women would rather give birth outside on the street. It was safer.2
Inside, more of them died of childbed fever, especially if they were put in First Clinic. The two maternity wards or clinics accepted patients on alternate days, but whenever their babies arrived, mothers begged to be put in Second Clinic. The death rate there was lower.3
Childbed (or puerperal) fever was a bacterial infection common in nineteenth-century hospitals and even after doctor-assisted home births. It tore through the reproductive systems and blood streams of women exhausted by childbirth. In America, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. announced in 1843 that the disease was carried on the unwashed hands and clothes of doctors, but he was largely ignored.4
In 1847, Semmelweis came to the same conclusion. As assistant to Professor Johann Klein, he was put in charge of First Clinic and found the patients were right about it. His ward’s 1841–846 death rate was 9.92 percent, compared to 3.88 percent in Second Clinic.5
Was it because of miasma? No. The two clinics were under the same roof and shared an anteroom; all patients breathed the same air. Overcrowding?

No. Second Clinic was more crowded. Semmelweis ruled out one hypothesis after another.6
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Question
Use the passage to answer the question.

What is the purpose of the graphic showing “Puerperal fever, Yearly mortality rates”? Choose two responses.

(1 point)
Responses which answers are correct and why

to show how the mortality rates at the two clinics changed over time
to show how the mortality rates at the two clinics changed over time

to show how many total people died of puerperal fever in the clinics
to show how many total people died of puerperal fever in the clinics

to compare the mortality rates for puerperal fever to other diseases
to compare the mortality rates for puerperal fever to other diseases

to compare the mortality rates for puerperal fever in the past to today
to compare the mortality rates for puerperal fever in the past to today

to compare the mortality rates at the First Clinic to the Second Clinic
to compare the mortality rates at the First Clinic to the Second Clinic
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Answer 1

Based on the provided passage, the two correct responses regarding the purpose of the graphic showing “Puerperal fever, Yearly mortality rates” are:

1. to compare the mortality rates at the First Clinic to the Second Clinic - This is correct because the passage discusses the difference in mortality rates between the two clinics, highlighting the substantial difference in outcomes for mothers.

2. to show how the mortality rates at the two clinics changed over time - This is also correct as it implies a temporal analysis of the data, which would be useful to understand trends and changes in mortality rates, potentially in relation to the practices being discussed.

The other options do not align closely with the focus of the passage, which emphasizes the comparison between the two clinics rather than the total number of deaths, comparison to other diseases, or a comparison to contemporary mortality rates.