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Evaluation of two chlorhexidine – alcohol‐based skin disinfectants in blood donation setting
Author(s) -
So B. K. L.,
Chu C. C. Y.,
Ho P. L.,
Chow K. H.,
Leung J. N. S.,
Lee I. Y. M.,
Lin C. K.,
Lee C. K.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
vox sanguinis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.68
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0410
pISSN - 0042-9007
DOI - 10.1111/vox.12107
Subject(s) - isopropyl alcohol , disinfectant , chlorhexidine gluconate , chlorhexidine , alcohol , antiseptic , chemistry , lecithin , hand sanitizer , chromatography , medicine , food science , dentistry , organic chemistry
Background Source reduction is important in minimizing bacterial‐contaminated risk of blood products, but previous evaluation of chlorhexidine ( CHX ) was confounded by inability of Tween and lecithin to neutralize CHX . The study aims to address this limitation and also evaluates the effectiveness of two CHX –alcohol‐based skin disinfectants in blood donation setting. Methods A two‐stage observational study was conducted. A single step 2% chlorhexidine gluconate/70% isopropyl alcohol brush ( CHX / IPA ‐1) was first compared with current skin disinfection procedure consisting of sequential application of 10% povidone‐iodine and 70% isopropyl alcohol ( PI / IPA ). Standard plates with conventional neutralizers (0·3% Tween‐80, 0·1% lecithin) were used to enumerate residual bacterial counts. Then, CHX / IPA ‐1 was compared with another applicator CHX / IPA ‐2 with identical disinfectant contents using in‐house plates with neutralizers (3% Tween‐80, 0·3% lecithin, 0·1% histidine, 0·5% sodium thiosulphate, 3% saponin, 1% ether sulphate) having enhanced ability to neutralize CHX . Results All three products were found to reduce plate counts by > 2 log 10 after disinfection. The CHX / IPA ‐1 group gave fewer residual bacterial growth on standard plates than PI / IPA group (5·9% vs. 61·7%, P < 0·001). With the use of in‐house plates, residual bacterial growth was of no difference in both CHX / IPA ‐1 and CHX / IPA ‐2 groups (42·5% vs. 49·4%, P = 0·26). Conclusion Good efficacy was observed with one‐stage application of CHX / IPA in predonation skin disinfection and it could replace PI / IPA . However, the efficacy of CHX / IPA could be grossly overestimated in testing with standard plates because of insufficient neutralization.