It is 1846. Puerperal fever, a putrid cocktail of pus, sweat, and blood, is ravaging the maternity ward. Mothers and their newborn babies are dying by the hundreds.
He notices that of the two clinics comprising the maternity hospital, one alone bears the brunt of the Puerperal plague, recording a mortality rate of 11% (the second clinic boasts a rate of under 3%).
“ The patients really do fear the first clinic. Frequently one most witness moving scenes in which patients, kneeling and wringing their hands, beg to be released in order to seek admission to the second clinic.”
Trained scientist that he is, Semmelweis begins to test hypotheses. Maybe overcrowding is the cause? Perhaps it is fear, accelerated by the mournful toll of the priest’s bell echoing down the hallways? Perhaps conception itself is the problem?
But then, a tragic breakthrough. His friend, who had suffered a minor cut from a dirty scalpel used during a post-mortem, dies. His symptoms suggest he has been slain by the same killer who has been stalking the maternity ward.