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A comment on A lucky little fish solves iron deficiency among women in Cambodia. Parent comment

Re:A lucky little fish solves iron deficiency among women in... by Someone on Wednesday January 14, 2015 @08:48PM (#8890451)
"It's pretty incredible that so much effort was even necessary. The solution was there at the start - wash your hands before treating patients" (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis)

Educated men can ignore evidence. These women likely hadn't seen real evidence, and might not even know about the periodic system. It doesn't take much intelligence to detect things that kill fast, but detecting things that kill you slowly is hard.

Also, the health benefits probably weren't obvious to these women; they just heard strangers claim there were health benefits.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:A lucky little fish solves iron deficiency among women in... by peterfirefly on Thursday January 15, 2015 @03:59AM (#8891537)
It was not just about washing hands -- it was about washing them with carbolic acid.
[ Parent | on HN ]