Hospital Infections, Antibiotics and the Emergence of Resistance in English Hospitals, 1930-1960

This paper examines the history of hospital infections, the clinical introduction of antibiotics and the emergence of antibiotic resistant disease strains in English hospitals between 1930 and 1960. It argues that infection has been an almost constant problem for the modern, curative hospital. The arrival first of sulphonamides and later of antibiotics provided a cost-effective, readily available counter-measure which proved to be highly effective in the short term. The longer term consequence, however, was the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains. Calls for a rational use of antibiotics, voiced from 1952, remained unheard. The problem culminated in the crisis around Staph 80/81, a strain of Staphyloccocus Aureus resistant to all available antibiotics at the time. The development of methicillin and the implementation of stricter infection control regimes allowed the problem to recede around 1960 after an intense period of historical change from the end of the war onwards.