The History of Sepsis from Ancient Egypt to the XIX Century

Abstract

Throughout history, mankind has succumbed to endless infectious diseases which have been responsible of great historical changes; classic examples like “The Black Death” during the late Medieval period, a disease being the cause of profound demographical and social changes that prelude The Renaissance; we can also mention the smallpox epidemic during the New World conquest in the XVI century, a disease which was a direct cause of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures’ holocaust. These are mere examples of well characterized infectious diseases which have had a definite contribution, among other factors, to the development of great scientific and historical changes. As oppose to these notoriously famous infectious diseases, sepsis cannot be categorized as a unique nosological entity studied by medical historians through the history of western medicine. This is the reason why we feel obliged to go beyond a simple description of sepsis throughout history from ancient Egypt to pre-modern times. Therefore, this text also intends to demonstrate how the study and clinical approach of the phenomena in the past, that we’ve come to know as sepsis, gave way to the development of many important medical revolutions in the XVI and XIX century, especially in the fields of surgery and microbiology respectively.