[Correspondence] WHO's recommendation for surgical skin antisepsis is premature – Authors' reply

Matthias Maiwald and Andreas Widmer express concern with the WHO recommendation on surgical site preparation.1,2 WHO guidelines are developed using processes and methods to ensure robust recommendations.3 Specifically, this recommendation was informed by a systematic review and several meta-analyses, including one of six randomised controlled trials comparing alcohol-based chlorhexidine with povidone-iodine-alcohol (PVP-I) preparations that showed a greater reduction in surgical site infections (SSIs) with chlorhexidine (odds ratio [OR] 0 ·58, 95% CI 0·42–0·80).
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research