Preoperative Shower Bath with 4% Chlorhexidine Detergent Solution: Reduction of Staphylococcus Aureus in Skin Carriers and Practical Application

Our interest in the skin bacteria of surgical patients originated during a study of orthopedic postoperative wound infections at Sahlgrens Hospital and at ou laboratory. Go, Sweden. The dominant bacterium in early infections following operations of the hip was Staphylococcus aureus, as we the case in the study from the Lund, Sweden, by Ericsson et al.4 In environmental studies, bacteria from the orthopedic patient’s specific environment—from the operating room or recovery unit—could not be traced in patients with S. aureus infections. However, in many cases S. aureus with the same phage type was isolated before operation from the patient’s nose and/or skin.7 It was concluded that in all probability the patients were their own sources of infection.