PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H A Lilly

Publications and source records attributed to H A Lilly.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

A multi-centre evaluation of two chlorhexidine-containing formulations for surgical hand disinfection.

Many experimental methods have been used to assess the efficacy of products intended for surgical hand disinfection. In this study, a modification of the Peterson glove juice method was used to compare two chlorhexidine-based surgical hand disinfectants, 'Hibiscrub' and an experimental formulation, F.6115. The study was performed by four independent laboratories and data merged for analysis. There was found to be no significant difference between the two formulations. The results illustrate that this modified Peterson glove juice method has the potential to form the basis of a standard method for testing surgical hand disinfectants which is both relevant to the practical situation and reproducible in different laboratories.

Chlorhexidine↗
PubMed1988

Hand disinfection: a comparison of various agents in laboratory and ward studies.

The efficacy of 14 handwashing or disinfectant preparations was compared in laboratory tests on staff volunteers. The test organism, Escherichia coli, was applied to the fingertips and log reductions (LR) were measured following treatment with the test agent and control preparations (70% isopropanol and non-medicated bar soap). Alcoholic preparations, particularly n-propanol and isopropanol were the most effective showing LRs of 3.1-3.8. Chlorhexidine (LR 2.9) and povidone-iodine detergent preparations were significantly more effective than non-medicated soap (LR 2.1), but triclosan products were not. In addition the residual effect of several of these formulations was assessed after 10 applications by comparing the survival of E. coli on the fingertips over a 32-min period. This number of handwashes compares favourably with those recorded during an 8 h nursing shift. Chlorhexidine-detergent consistently showed the best residual activity. Alcoholic formulations showed little or no residual effect. The survival studies show that on the whole gram-positive organisms (Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans) survive better on the skin than Gram-negative bacilli (GNB). However, it would seem that GNB which are considered to be residents (Acinetobacter calcoaceticus and Enterobacter spp.) survive much better than many other GNB (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, E. coli and Proteus vulgaris). The Klebsiella species varied in survival times. Random sampling of ward staff hands showed that contamination with S. aureus and GNB was greater in dermatological and general wards than in an isolation unit, where handwashing or disinfection was carried out after every patient contact. No cross-infection occurred in the isolation ward during periods of study in which 70% alcohol, chlorhexidine-detergent and non-medicated soap were used.

Alcohols↗
PubMed1984

Trial of a laminar air-flow enclosure for the control of infection in a burns operating theatre.

A series of 22 patients with full-skin thickness burns had skin grafting operations in a Piekenrood-Vinitex BV open-topped laminar air-flow enclosure, and a parallel control series of 18 patients were grafted in the same operating room without the use of the laminar flow unit; the operating room in which both series of operations were performed had standard plenum ventilation with 20 air changes per hour. None of the patients acquired on their burns Staph. aureus of phage types and antibiotic sensitivity patterns corresponding with those isolated from carriers who were in the theatre at the time of the operation; 16 patients acquired on their burns strains of types corresponding with those of strains isolated from burns of other patients in the ward. Settle plates exposed during operations showed a relatively small reduction in bacterial counts associated with the use of the laminar flow enclosure.

Burns↗
PubMed1981

Evaluation of a portable air purifier.

A portable air purifier significantly reduced mal odour in a small room. If the atmosphere was deliberately contaminated with Serratia marcescens the unit rapidly removed this organism. However, if incorrectly sited, the purifier could disperse organisms into the atmosphere.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMed1979

Decline of the hospital Staphylococcus? Incidence of multiresistant Staph. aureus in three Birmingham hospitals.

The prevalance of antibiotic-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus was studied in three Birmingham hospitals. In a general hospital periodic surveys showed a progressive decline in the proportions of patients with Staph. aureus in their noses which were resistant to tetracycline, erythromycin, and kanamycin. This change was associated with a progressive reduction in the use of tetracycline without an overall reduction in the use of antibiotics. There was no similar decline in resistance of staphylococci isolated in a hospital for skin diseases. In a burns unit there was a sudden large reduction during September, 1978, in the proportions of Staph, aureus from burns which were resistant to tetracycline, methicillin, cephaloridine, erythromycin, lincomycin, novobiocin, gentamicin, and kanamycin, and in the proportions of multiresistant strains (resistant to penicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin, kanamycin, methicillin, novobiocin, cephaloridine, and lincomycin). This change was associated with a reduction in the number of patients and in the use of antibiotics; tetracycline was not in use except during one month of the study. Strains of Staph. aureus resistant to these antibiotics became common again in the burns unit when a larger number of patients were admitted and more antibiotics were used in the wards.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1979

Detergents compared with each other and with antiseptics as skin 'degerming' agents.

Three detergent preparations (bar soap, 'Hibiscrub' base and 'LIC 76'), TWO ANTISEPTic preparations (0.5% chlorhexidine in 95% ethyl alcohol and an alcohol jelly, 'Alcogel'), and one antiseptic-detergent solution (4% chlorhexidine gluconate in a detergent base, 'Hibiscrub') were compared for their effectiveness, on a single use, in reducing the yield of bacteria from the hands of volunteers. The antiseptic and antiseptic--detergent preparations were more effective than the detergents, with a mean reduction in yield of skin bacteria of 96.0% after use of alcoholic chlorhexidine and of 81.2% after use of Hibiscrub. One of the detergents, LIC 76, appeared more effective than the others, causing a mean reduction in the yield of skin bacteria of 41.5%, compared with reductions of 4.6% by the Hibiscrub detergent base and an increase of 3.2% with bar soap; unlike the other detergents, LIC 76 was found to have appreciable bacteristatic and bactericidal properties.

Bacteria↗
PubMed1979

Staphylococcal sepsis in a burns unit.

An outbreak of staphylococcal sepsis in a burns unit occurred between January 1976 and May 1978. Many patients and members of staff had boils, and a number of patients also developed septicaemia. Most of the boils in the early period of the trial and a large proportion of boils in patients during the later period yielded Staphylococcus aureus resistant to penicillin, tetracycline and erythromycin only (PTE), and were shown to be of phage type 95 in the early period while strains were phage typed. From blood cultures, most strains in the early period were of resistance pattern PTE and phage type 95, but in the later period other resistance patterns were predominant. Strains from burns were usually multiresistant (PTEKNML) and of the phage pattern 29/77, which had been endemic in the Unit, but during the early period of the outbreak there was an increased proportion of strains in burns with the resistance pattern PTE and of phage type 95. Staphylococcal sepsis has for many years been very infrequent in the burns unit. This outbreak seems to have been initiated by a strain of phage type 95 and resistance pattern PTE, but during the course of the outbreak the endemic strain of type 29/77 and some other staphylococci seem to have developed enhanced ability to cause clinical infections, conceivably by transduction from the epidemic strain of phage type 95.

Burns↗
PubMed1979

Delayed antimicrobial effects of skin disinfection by alcohol.

Aqueous suspensions of Staphylococcus aureus were deposited on a Millipore filter and then exposed for a few seconds to 70% ethyl alcohol. Viable counts of bacteria extracted from the filter immediately after exposure to alcohol, and, in replicate experiments, after a further period of 3 h, showed that the mean immediate reduction of 97.6% in viable counts after treatment with alcohol was followed by a further mean reduction of 67.1% in the further 3 h holding time; the same bacterial suspensions allowed to dry on Millipore filters without exposure to alcohol showed a significantly smaller mean reduction in viable counts (34.3%) during a further 3 h holding time. These findings support the view that the reported further fall in numbers of bacteria on hands while wearing gloves for 3 h after alcohol disinfection can be explained by sublethal damage to some of the bacteria, from which they can recover only if promptly inoculated on culture medium.

Antisepsis↗
PubMed1979

Limits to progressive reduction of resident skin bacteria by disinfection.

Antiseptic preparations used repeatedly to disinfect the skin caused a reduction in yield of resident flora to a low equilibrium level beyond which further reduction did not occur. This equilibrium varied with the antiseptic preparation used. In a comparison of three preparations, the lowest equilibrium level was obtained with 95% ethyl alcohol. The further reduction in yield of skin bacteria on using alcohol after repeated disinfection with an antiseptic detergent preparation ('two-phase' disinfection) was not paralleled by a further reduction when the preparations used in the two phases were reversed, the antiseptic detergent being used after repeated disinfection with ethyl alcohol. 'Two-phase' disinfection was therefore seen to be due to further reduction in skin bacteria from the low equilibrium obtained with the antiseptic detergent to the lower level obtainable by alcohol disinfection. When repeated disinfection to equilibrium with alcohol was followed by a 'second-phase' handwash with a non-antiseptic detergent and water, there was a large increase in the yield of skin bacteria. This finding supports the view that a low equilibrium level occurs when the reduction in density of accessible bacteria through disinfection is balanced by the emergence of bacteria drawn from deeper layers of the skin.

Bacteria↗