Blood culture contamination rates after skin antisepsis with chlorhexidine gluconate versus povidone-iodine in a pediatric emergency department

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Marlowe L, Mistry RD, Coffin S, Leckerman KH, McGowan KL, Dai D, Bell LM, Zaoutis T.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2010 Feb;31(2):171-6.
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, USA.

  • The blood culture contamination rate decreased from 24.81 to 17.19 contaminated cultures per 1,000 cultures after implementation of chlorhexidine, a 30% relative decrease.
  • Skin antisepsis with chlorhexidine significantly reduces the blood culture contamination rate among young children, as compared with povidone-iodine.

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