The Efficacy of 2% Chlorhexidine Gluconate in 70% Alcohol Compared With 10% Povidone Iodine in Reducing Blood Culture Contamination in Pediatric Patients

This is a prospective study of pediatric patients between 0-15 years of age who were admitted in three pediatric wards: general pediatric ward aged <5 years, general pediatric ward aged >5 years, and pediatric intensive care unit at a tertiary-care teaching hospital. Patients who needed percutaneous blood cultures were eligible for enrollment and were classified into two groups according to antiseptic used: 10% povidone iodine in odd months and 2% chlorhexidine gluconate in 70% alcohol in even months. Blood cultures were taken primarily by ward nurses using standard technique. The blood cultures were analysed and monitored for 5 days. Isolated organisms and their antimicrobial susceptibilities were determined using standard microbiologic techniques.

Blood culture isolates were categorized into two groups including a true pathogen and a contaminant by clinical criteria combined with laboratory data. A blood culture was classified as contaminated if common skin flora such as Coagulase negative staphylococci, Corynebacterium spp., Micrococcus spp., or Bacillus spp. were isolated from one of the blood culture samples without isolation of the same organism from another potential infection site (for example, intravenous catheter), or a common skin flora was isolated in a patient with incompatible clinical features and improved without specific treatment for that organism.