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Influence of Ethanol With and Without Chlorhexidine on the Bacterial Colonization of the Umbilicus of Newborn Infants

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

S. Bygdeman ,
A Hambraeus ,
A. Henningsson ,
B. Nyström ,
C. Skoglund  and
R. Tunell
S. Bygdeman*
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Huddinge University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Institute of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
A Hambraeus
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Huddinge University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Institute of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
A. Henningsson
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Huddinge University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Institute of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
B. Nyström
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Huddinge University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Institute of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
C. Skoglund
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Huddinge University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Institute of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
R. Tunell
Affiliation:
Departments of Clinical Microbiology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Huddinge University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden Institute of Clinical Bacteriology, University of Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden
*
Dept. of Clinical Microbiology, Huddinge University Hospital, S 141 86 Huddinge, Sweden
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Abstract

The effect of daily treatments with 70% ethanol and with 0.5% Chlorhexidine in 70% ethanol, respectively, on navel colonization in newborns has been studied in 624 infants in two maternity wards during a four-month period. Staphylococcus aureus, group B and G streptococci, E. coli and anaerobes were significantly less often isolated from newborns whose umbilical cord was treated with Chlorhexidine in ethanol than from those treated with ethanol only. Staphylococcus epidermidis and enterococci, on the other hand, were significantly more often isolated from the chlorhexidine-ethanol than from the ethanol group. More infants without colonization of the umbilicus on their fourth day of life were found in the Chlorhexidine in ethanol than in the ethanol group. The infants in the ethanol group were colonized with significantly more bacterial species than the infants in the other group. Signs of dissemination of group B and group G streptococci between babies were seen more often in the group of infants treated with ethanol than in the one treated with chlorhexidine-ethanol.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 5 , Issue 6 , June 1984 , pp. 275 - 278
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1984

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