[Disinfection of the skin prior to injections does not influence the incidence of infections; a literature study].
OBJECTIVE
To assess the incidence of infections after subcutaneous, intramuscular or intravenous injections--using sterile needles--with or without prior disinfection of the skin.


METHODS
Literature searches were made in the database Medline from 1966-June 2001, in the databases Picarta, Embase and the Cochrane Library, as well as manually in the reference lists of the collected articles. Original papers in English, Dutch or German were selected.


RESULTS
Four relevant studies were found, generally of poor quality. In these two infections were reported after disinfecting the skin prior to over 2300 injections in 156 patients, and none were reported after not disinfecting the skin prior to over 7000 injections in more than 700 patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Both disinfection prior to skin injections and omission of disinfection were followed by (almost) no infections.
Lieffers
M A M
MA
Universitair Medisch Centrum St Radboud, afd. Voortgezette Opleiding tot Huisarts, Postbus 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen.
Mokkink
H G A
HG
D004202:Disinfectants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D007239:Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007267:Injections; D016239:MEDLINE; D009339:Needles / Q000592:standards; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*; D013242:Sterilization
D004202:Disinfectants