Surgical site infections: preparation, technique and perioperative prevention

Translocation of endogenous microbial flora is the most common route of surgical site infection. Skin preparation and aseptic techniques aim to reduce or eliminate the growth of resident and transient...

Which skin preparation technique is most effective to minimise bacterial contamination?

The gold standard provision in veterinary care is to utilise evidence-based medicine to help evaluate the weight of evidence and guide clinical decision making which will ultimately increase animal...

Surgical skin preparation — are we just going around in circles?

Transient or contaminating flora do not normally colonise skin (Gregory, 2005). They are acquired by contact with people/animals or the environment and include organisms such as Staphylococcus aureus,...

An in vitro investigation into the efficacies of chlorhexidine gluconate, povidone iodine and green tea (Camellia sinensis) to prevent surgical site infection in animals

The Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method (disk diffusion) was used to determine the in vitro susceptibility of S. aureus (ATCC 25923), Staphylococcus intermedius (ATCC 29663), Streptococcus uberis (ATCC...

An evidence-based approach to infection control in the operating theatre

Historically surgical outcomes were poor until the early nineteenth century with the major contributing factor being SSIs (Humes and Lobo, 2009). Some of the major advancements in infection control...