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Infection

Efficacy of chlorhexidine against catheter-related infections

Nature Reviews Nephrology volume 11, page 632 (2015)Cite this article

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Catheter-related infections commonly occur in the health-care setting and are associated with high mortality. Research led by Olivier Mimoz and the CLEAN trial investigators now shows that disinfecting a patient's skin with an alcohol formulation of 2% chlorhexidine-alcohol is more effective in decreasing the incidence of catheter-related infections and catheter colonization than is 5% povidone iodine-alcohol. Furthermore, scrubbing the skin with detergent before disinfection did not reduce the incidence of catheter colonization.

...these new findings will have important consequences in reducing morbidity...

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References

  1. Mimoz, O. et al. Skin antisepsis with chlorhexidine-alcohol versus povidone iodine-alcohol, with and without skin scrubbing, for prevention of intravascular-catheter-related infection (CLEAN): an open-label, multicentre, randomised, controlled, two-by-two factorial trial. Lancet 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00244-5

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  1. Jessica K. Edwards
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Edwards, J. Efficacy of chlorhexidine against catheter-related infections. Nat Rev Nephrol 11, 632 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneph.2015.166

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