The “pasteurian revolution” in buenos aires

Abstract

Three were the main Argentine surgeons actively involved, sequentially, in the introduction of surgical antisepsis and asepsis in Argentina from 1873 to 1889: Manuel Augusto Montes de Oca, Ignacio Pirovano and Juan B. Justo. The arrival of both techniques in Buenos Aires constituted, indeed, a scientific-technological transfer, which fell within a broader context in the history of science and medicine known as the “pasteurian revolution”, during the second half of the XIX century. In fact, it was Pasteur’s microbial theory that was responsible for the theoretical and experimental grounds upon which both methods were based. This work aims to analyze and review, by means of its sources, the perception of the new theory and its application to surgery carried out by those involved in the establishment of such theory in our country