In the decade of 1840, just before the asteroid (10) Hygiea was discovered, the doctor Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis, who worked in the Hospice of Vienna, discovered that women admitted who gave birth had many more puerperal fever than those who did in their homes and he measured the mortality: 30%, in relation to 15% in home.
Semmelweis realized that those women who received more visits from doctors and students - many of them recently leaved from the operating room to treat others sick or of the dissection room- illed and died more. And it occurred to him to measure what happened if their companions washed their hands after entering into the room. By forcing the staff to wash their hands, infections were reduced to less than 10% of the admitted.
Greek mythology
Hygieia was the goddess of health, daughter of Asclepius (Aesculapius for the Romans).
The main theme of (10) Hygiea is cleanliness and sanitation, which is very important in infirmary and cook professions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_safety
