Researchers in Bangkok recently examined the effectiveness of daily bathing with 2 percent chlorhexidine-impregnated washcloths in preventing multidrug-resistant gram-positive bacterial colonization and bloodstream infection. The results of the study were published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
The study was conducted in four medical intensive care units in Thailand from December 2013 to January 2015. Nearly 500 patients in the study were cleaned with either non-antimicrobial soap (241 patients) or the chlorhexidine-impregnated wipes (240 patients).
The researchers observed favorable events at day 14 in 34.8 percent of patients in the control group and 28.6 percent in the chlorhexidine group. The median multidrug-resistant bacteria colonization-free times were 5 days in both groups, and the infection rate and length of stay was roughly the same between the two patient cohorts.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of using 2 percent chlorhexidine-impregnated washcloths to prevent bacteria colonization and hospital-acquired infections in ICU patients was not proven.
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