title: Suppression of surgeons' bacterial hand flora during surgical procedures with a new antimicrobial surgical glove.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Perforations of surgical gloves are common and increase with the duration of glove wear. Skin flora, re-grown after pre-operative disinfection of the hands, may contaminate a surgical site. An antimicrobial surgical glove with chlorhexidine on its inner surface has been developed. We hypothesized that by suppressing the re-growth of skin flora during the complete course of a surgical procedure, antimicrobial gloves may reduce the risk of surgical site contamination in the event of an intra-operative glove breach.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a randomized, double-blind, single-center trial, to measure any differences in the bacterial skin populations of surgeons' hands during surgical procedures done with antimicrobial and non-antimicrobial surgical gloves [ISRCTN71391952]. In this study, 25 pairs of gloves were retrieved from 14 surgeons who donned them randomly on their dominant or non-dominant hand. The number of bacteria retrieved from glove fluid was measured and expressed as colony forming units (CFU)/mL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median cfu/mL of antimicrobial gloves was 0.00 (LQ: 0.00 CFU/mL; UQ: 0.00 cfu/mL), with a mean log10 cfu/mL=0.02 (range: 0.00-0.30). The median CFU/mL of non-antimicrobial gloves was 54.00 (LQ: 3.00 cfu/mL; UQ: 100.00 cfu/mL) with a mean log10 CFU/mL=1.32 (range: 0.00-2.39). After a mean operating time of 112 min, the difference in the log10 CFU/mL was 1.30 (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A new antimicrobial surgical glove suppressed surgeons' hand flora during operative procedures. In the event of a glove breach, the use of such a glove may have the potential to prevent bacterial contamination of a sterile surgical site, thereby decreasing the risk of surgical site infection (SSI) and increasing patient safety. Further clinical studies are needed to confirm this concept.
authors.affiliation: 1 Clinical Department for Hospital Hygiene, Medical University of Vienna , Vienna, Austria .
authors.forename: Ojan
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Assadian
authors.forename: Axel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ouriel
authors.forename: Miranda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suchomel
authors.forename: Mary-Louise
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: McLaws
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rottman
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Leaper
authors.forename: Afshin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Assadian
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005932:Gloves, Surgical / Q000382:microbiology*; D006225:Hand / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents