Work

The Attempt to Understand Puerperal Fever in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries: The Influence of Inflammation Theory

Year: 2005

Type: article

Abstract: Puerperal fever was a devastating disease. It affected women within the first three days after childbirth and progressed rapidly, causing acute symptoms of severe abdominal pain, fever and debility. Although it had been recognized from as early as the time of the Hippocratic corpus that women in childbed were prone to fevers, the distinct name, “puerperal fever” appears in the historical record only in the early eighteenth century.

Source: Medical History

DOI: 10.1017/s0025727300000119

Author: Christine Hallett

Institution: University of Manchester

Language: English

Topic: Medical History and Innovations

Subfield: History

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Wellcome Trust