The Tragedy of Childbed Fever [Hardcover]

Childbed fever was by the far the most common cause of deaths associated with childbirth throughout Europe up to the Second World War. Otherwise known as puerperal fever, it was an infection which followed childbirth and resulted in miserable and agonizing deaths for thousands of women every year. This book provides the first detailed account of this tragic disease from its recognition in the eighteenth century up to the second half of the twentieth century, examining it within a fully comprehensive history of infectious diseases.

1. An Introduction to Puerperal Fever
2. Puperperal Fever in the Eighteenth Century
3. Gordon of Aberdeen
4. Epidemic Puerperal Fever in Towns
5. Puerperal Fever and the Lying-in Hospitals
6. Puerperal Fever: Causes and Contagion
7. Semmelweis
8. Monocausalists, Multicausalists, and Germ Theory
9. Lister and Antisepsis
10. Puerperal Fever in the Early Twentieth Century
11. Puerperal Fever: A Curable Disease
12. The Epidemiology of Puerperal Fever
Select Bibliography
Index

A riveting account of the strange career of puerperal fever....This history is richer than most. Historical accounts are balanced nicely with the author's convictions and scientific knowledge....The book's masterful use of historical information to inform current concerns inspires the hope for the wider work this excellent volume should inspire. --JAMA

Loudon's previous books have already demonstrated his acute insight and tenacious research; this book should gain him an even greater following among scholars and general readers.... No one interested in the history of childbirth will want to miss this book.It is full of examples and insights that will form the basis of any future study (in whatever national setting); but even more it is full of wisdom that extends well beyond the specific disease to the history of medicine in general. --New England Journal of Medicine

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