1. Keep it Clean Aberdeen: Dr Alexander Gordon of Aberdeen
Fact Sheet 2
A Forgotten Hero:
Dr Alexander Gordon of Aberdeen
Puerperal fever or sepsis is an infection contracted at the birth of a baby. It is one of the leading causes of delivery-related deaths among mothers in developing countries today. This is an unacceptable reality in the 21st century, particularly since we have known how to prevent birth-related infections for over 200 years! In fact it was an Aberdeen-based doctor who was the first to tell us how.
In 1795, Alexander Gordon published A Treatise on the Epidemic Puerperal Fever of Aberdeen which described the infectious nature of puerperal fever and recommended the disinfection of the hands and clothes of health care staff.
Copyright North of Scotland Health Service Archive
“It is a disagreeable declaration for me to mention that I myself was the means of carrying the infection to a great number of women”
Alexander Gordon, 1795
While the Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis is better known as the “father of modern infection control”, his findings were published over half a century after Gordon’s Treatise. It was Gordon who identified the importance of hygiene in infection prevention and control 100 years before studies of bacteria confirmed his findings.
Today, research at the University of Aberdeen continues to show the importance of infection prevention and control and ways to enable all mothers and babies to benefit from clean safe care at birth. For more information, visit and
Source: Gould, I. (2010) Alexander Gordon, puerperal sepsis, and modern theories of infection control – Semmelweis in perspective. The Lancet Infectious Disease 10: ;