Internal and External Antisepsis

In the modern history of the biologic sciences and particularly in medicine, antiseptics and germicides have played such unanticipated parts and have been responsible for so much which is good that they have furnished words to conjure with. Every force that can be enlisted against baneful bacteria is promptly welcomed; but there are no “royal roads” to success in the warfare against these invisible foes, just as there are no panaceas with which every human ailment can be relieved. Surgeons of the present day have seen the pendulum of operative practice swing between antisepsis and asepsis without discovering the ultimate ideal of a universally applicable scheme of procedure. Only a few years ago, physicians were greatly exercised by the hope of finding a satisfactory intestinal antiseptic. Naturally the possibility of being able to rid the alimentary tract of its undesirable microbiotic invaders aroused widespread intere st. Despite the numerous efforts to demonstrate the efficacy of this or that chemical agent or drug as a gastro-intestinal antiseptic, the outcome has been that the supposed benefits were due to catharsis in most instances rather than to any real effect upon the bacteria in situ. The emptying of the bowel is, in truth, probably the most successful mode of decreasing its bacterial flora, according to present-day knowledge.
Source: JAMA - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research