Chlorhexidine resistance: a remote risk?

A helpful US study tracked the non-emergence of phenotypic or genotypic chlorhexidine resistance associated with hospital-wide use of chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) antisepsis. The 700 bed hospital introduced hospital wide CHG bathing in 2010, removed it in 2011, and reinstated it in 2015. They evaluated a collection of S. aureus isolates that were considered hospital-acquired and found that there was…

Read More

Updates on chlorhexidine from ECCMID 2017

A number of key studies were published at ECCMID 2017, providing further evidence of the utility of chlorhexidine for reducing the risk of HCAI. A study from South Korea evaluated the impact of universal skin antisepsis using 2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) washcloths in reducing MRSA acquisitions and bloodstream infections. Following a 12 month baseline period, a two-year…

Read More

Chlorhexidine crosses the line ahead of the competition in preventing catheter related infections

A randomised controlled study with a clinical outcome compared the impact of chlorhexidine, octenidine, and povidone iodine used for cutaneous antisepsis for preventing line infections associated with intravascular catheters. Chlorhexidine knocked spots off the competition, with patients randomised to chlorhexidine significantly less likely to develop line-relates sepsis or bacterial contamination when compared with octenidine or povidone iodine.…

Read More

Daily chlorhexidine bathing works in a high prevalence MRSA ICU setting

A recent Korean study underlines the value of daily chlorhexidine bathing, demonstrating a reduction in the trend of MRSA incidence in a high-prevalence ICU setting. The study also underlines the threat of reduced susceptibility to chlorhexidine emerging, which may begin to erode gains that have been made through the introduction of chlorhexidine. The study was performed…

Read More

Shocking news about chlorhexidine

There is some evidence that passing electricity through a biocide enhances its biocidal activity – a so-called ‘bioelectric effect’. At the molecular level, biocidal activity depends on some sort of chemical interaction at a molecular level. Things tend to happen more quickly in chemical reactions when you add more energy – to a point. And…

Read More

Evidence of source control for XDR Acinetobacter outbreak management grows

There is a steadily growing body of evidence that chlorhexidine washcloths can be effective in controlling multi-resistant Gram-negatives. Hot on the heels of a paper that demonstrated the effectiveness of the in controlling spread of Acinetobacter in a critical care unit1 comes a further paper relating to a hospital-wide outbreak of multi-resistant Acinetobacter. A new paper2 from Gray…

Read More

Study demonstrates the value of Clinell 2% chlorhexidine wash cloths

A new study shows that daily bathing using Clinell 2% chlorhexidine wash cloths dramatically reduces the transmission of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii where other measured failed. In the Korean intensive care unit where the study was performed, the proportion of patient who acquired this extremely antibiotic resistant pathogen was reduced by more than half, from 21% to 10%.…

Read More

Chlorhexidine vs. CRE

If you were to put chlorhexidine and CRE in the ring, who would win? On the face of it, you’d back CRE. Afterall, it’s carried in the gut; applying chlorhexidine to the skin won’t have a hope of decolonising the gut. True, but what is the mechanism of transmission of a gut-dwelling organism?Probably, contamination is…

Read More

Chlorhexidine Bathing: It’s all about compliance with the intervention

An oral abstract presented (click here for the full report) at APIC 2015 in Nashville in the last week has added to the burgeoning pile of evidence supporting the use of 2% Chlorhexidine wipes in reducing healthcare-associated infections. The paper reported that there was a 59% reduction in Paediatric Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) during the study…

Read More