To dry or not to dry? An assessment of the possible degradation in efficiency of preoperative skin preparation caused by wiping skin dry.

A controlled study of the effects of wiping skin dry after application of aqueous povidone-iodine was carried out in 24 subjects. There was no significant difference in the reduction from baseline counts of skin flora at 5, 30, 60 and 120 min between wiping the agent off after 30 s of application and leaving it to dry. It would appear that wiping skin dry that has been prepared for operation with this solution in order to allow application of adhesive drapes is a bacteriologically safe practice.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis B and C virus in two institutions caring for mentally handicapped adults.

Hepatitis B virus infection is common in institutions caring for the mentally handicapped. Hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus share routes of transmission but the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in this population is unknown. We have tested 101 patients from two institutions in South-East England caring for adults with mental handicap for the presence of hepatitis C antibody, hepatitis B core antibody, and if necessary hepatitis B surface antigen. None tested positive for hepatitis C antibody, but 43 had hepatitis B core antibody of whom 14 were chronic carriers positive for hepatitis B surface antigen. Unlike hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus infection appears to be uncommon in UK institutions.

Pulmonary Mycobacterium kansasii infection successfully treated with a regimen containing erythromycin.

We report a case in which erythromycin was used in place of rifampicin after a severe reaction to the latter in the treatment of pulmonary Mycobacterium kansasii infection.