Staphylococcal Colonization in Newborn Infants with and without Antiseptic Skin Care

Abstract

RECENT studies at the Yale–New Haven Medical Center1 , 2 have demonstrated that properly performed antiseptic skin and umbilical-cord care brings about a striking decrease in colonization of newborn infants by pathogenic staphylococci.§ Gluck and Wood2 suggested that this effect may be due to the interruption of a major epidemiologic route operative in nurseries — namely, staphylococci from all sources first colonize the skin or cord, or both, and are then carried into the nose. They found a 51 per cent overall colonization of nose and cord in a control group of 500 infants on "dry" skin care and a prompt drop . . .