title: The infection risk of plastic wrap as an acute burns dressing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Domestic plastic wrap has been recommended as an appropriate acute burn wound dressing in the Emergency Management of Severe Burns course. There remain limited studies reporting the risk of infection associated with this dressing.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the potential infection risk of domestic plastic wrap used to treat acute burns wounds by assessment for the presence of clinically significant micro-organisms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten plastic wrap samples were collected from a roll that had been opened for several months on the burns ward at our institution. Plastic wrap was imprinted directly onto horse-blood agar plates. The plates were incubated for 72h in aerobic conditions with 5% CO2.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found no significant growth on any agar plate after incubation. A sufficient amount of plastic wrap was sampled to be confident that areas up to 12cm×12cm from the centre of the plastic sheet were aerobically sterile.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data suggest that the potential for plastic wrap to act as a fomite when used as an acute burn wound dressing is extremely low.
authors.affiliation: Douglas Cohen Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Adelene Y
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Andresen
authors.affiliation: Douglas Cohen Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; The Children's Hospital at Westmead Burns Research Institute, The Burns Unit and Statewide Burns Injury Service, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Hugh C O
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Douglas Cohen Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; The Children's Hospital at Westmead Burns Research Institute, The Burns Unit and Statewide Burns Injury Service, New South Wales, Australia; Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: Douglas Cohen Department of Paediatric Surgery, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, New South Wales, Australia; The Children's Hospital at Westmead Burns Research Institute, The Burns Unit and Statewide Burns Injury Service, New South Wales, Australia; Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: andrew.holland@health.nsw.gov.au.
authors.forename: Andrew J A
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Holland
mesh_terms: D001458:Bandages / Q000382:microbiology*; D002056:Burns / Q000628:therapy*; D050456:Fomites / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D020959:Polyethylene; D014946:Wound Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*
chemical_list: D020959:Polyethylene
keywords: Acute burn wound; Infection; Plastic wrap