Antiseptic Baths Yield Mixed Results in ICU

A daily wipe-down with chlorhexidine didn't cut healthcare-associated infections in critically-ill patients in one single-center pragmatic trial, but every-other-day chlorhexidine did in a second such trial. Daily use had minimal impact on the composite rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), ventilator-associated pneumonia, and Clostridium difficile infections compared with non-antimicrobial wipes (2.86 versus 2.90 per 1,000 patient-days, P=0.95). They wrote, "both cross-resistance and coresistance between antibiotics and antiseptics exist. Indeed, widespread use of biocidal antiseptics into the environment might constitute a biological hazard via increased but selective pressure on microbial populations, potentially allowing more pathogenic organisms to flourish or facilitating resistance gene transfer." They suggested that "the same benefits potentially could be gained through other approaches, such as improved hand hygiene, which may be safer and less likely to affect the ecology of bacterial resistance in the ICU." http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/SCCM/49669?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2015-01-23&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=ST&eun=g721819d0r&userid=721819&email=amydugan2%40gmail.com&mu_id=5883165&utm_term=Daily