Asepsis yesterday and today

Louis Pasteur; the French Chemist; had exposed microbes as the bane of wound healing long before its appreciation by surgeons. Hence wound infection remained one of the major obstacles to progress in surgery until the development and general acceptance of antisepsis and aseptic surgical techniques. The discovery of antibiotics by Alexander Fleming and the introduction of rubber gloves into surgery by Williams Halsted also contributed notably to the control of wound infections