ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: One of the important problems that lower the diagnostic value of blood culture is contamination with skin organisms. The povidone-iodine, alcohol, and chlorhexidine gluconate alcohol are used for disinfection prior to blood sampling for culture. METHODS: The investigator-initiated, open label, single centre, randomised trial compared blood culture contamination rates between two groups of patients in which using a povidone iodine skin-preparation process with the contamination rate for using "2 % chlorhexidine with 70 % isopropyl alcohol" skin-disinfection. The patients who required sampling for blood cultures were included in the study and study period was from 15 March 2023 to 15 July 2023. RESULTS: A total of 400 blood cultures were obtained during the study, including 133 in the study group and 267 in the control group. In the total blood cultures, 11.75 % (n = 47) had microorganism isolation. Among them 39 (9.75 %) were contaminants and 8 (2 %) of them were true pathogens. The contaminant microorganisms were as following; 34 coagulase-negative Staphylococci, 3 Micrococcus spp, and 2 Streptococci viridans. The blood culture contamination rate in the study group was 5.3 % (n = 7) and 12.0 % (n = 32) in the control group, and significantly lower in the study group (p = 0.033). There is no significant difference regarding skin related side effects between two groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study, showed that 2 % chlorhexidine gluconate in 70 % isopropyl alcohol is more efficacious in children than 10 % povidone-iodine preparations for disinfecting the skin prior to blood specimen collection for prevention of blood culture contamination.