Dear of troy: As I see it, the principal problem with the alternative medicine people is that they rely far too much on anecdotal data, and do not use properly controlled studies to validate their claims. Look at how hard it was to convince even doctors how hazardous smoking is. I knew far too many doctors who died of smoking. I even had one of them ask me bring him something that he could use to commit suicide with.I'm lucky that one of my friends was a chest surgeon, and told me about the numerous lung cancers he was seeing, back in the early 50's.

Puerperal Fever, infection, once prevalent in women after childbirth. In most cases puerperal fever occurred because aseptic techniques during delivery and occasionally during abortion and miscarriage were not used. Also called childbed fever, the infection in most instances was due to streptococci that entered the body during delivery. The efforts of the physicians Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis and Oliver Wendell Holmes brought about the adoption of rigid cleanliness and asepsis in maternal delivery procedures, and the mortality from puerperal fever was reduced more than 90 percent after their adoption.
In addition to the use of strict asepsis in obstetrical procedures, the availability of modern antiseptics has made puerperal fever a rarity.



"Puerperal Fever," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.