Prevention of catheter-related infections by antiseptic bonding.

A novel catheter pretreated with the antiseptics chlorhexidine and silver-sulfadiazine, designed to reduce catheter-related colonization and infection, was tested in both in vitro and in vivo studies. In vitro experiments demonstrated the long-lasting antibacterial properties of this catheter. For the in vivo study a total of 40 rats divided into different experimental groups were used. Colonization rates of both antiseptic bonded (AS) and control (C) catheters were assessed either three (-3) or seven (-7) days after implantation and local challenge using live Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 35984 with 10(7) colony-forming units (cfu) per inoculum. At the time of removal, catheters, organ specimens, and blood samples were taken for cultivation. Significant reductions in the magnitude of colonization of the antiseptic catheters by the test organism were observed in all groups. The average number of cfu colonizing control segments exceeded those found on the treated catheter segments by log 3 (C3/AS3) and log 5 (C7/AS7), respectively (C3: 1.2 x 10(6) +/- 4.1 x 10(5) cfu/segment and AS3: 1.8 x 10(3) +/- 6.6 x 10(2); C7: 2.7 x 10(5) +/- 8.6 x 10(4) and AS7: 1.1 +/- 0.7; mean +/- standard error of the mean, all differences between matching groups statistically significant, Wilcoxon rank sum test, P < 0.0001). These data suggest that antiseptic catheters may substantially decrease the magnitude of catheter-related microbial colonization and subsequent catheter-related infections and may offer a more effective alternative to current methods.