ANTISEPTIC EFFECTS AT INJECTION SITES

To our knowledge, there are no published papers detailing antisepsis f or injection sites. In view of this, the efficacies of povidone-iodine (PVP-I) ethanol solution and chlorhexidine (CH) ethanol, the agents m ost commonly used for antisepsis of the operative field, were compared . Before and after the injection site was disinfected with either of t hese antiseptics, specimens of indigenous bacteria ria on the skin wer e collected by the cylinder scrub method, and the bacteria reduction r ate and the reduction factor (RF) were determined to evaluate the effi cacy of antisepsis. The bacteria reduction rate and RF value obtained for PVP-I ethanol were 95.1 +/- 11.2 and 2.1 +/- 0.9% and those for CH ethanol were 93.5 +/- 9.3 and 1.8 +/- 0.9%. Since there were individu al differences in cell count before antisepsis, no significant differe nce was seen in bactericidal activity. However, slightly more favorabl e results were obtained with PVP-I ethanol. Although it is impossible to eradicate completely the indigenous microbes with currently availab le methods, it is considered important for the prevention of infection of the injection site to decrease bacterial counts as much as possibl e.