Preoperative MRSA decontamination with chlorhexidine washcloths as well as oral rinse and intranasal povidone-iodine appears to significantly decrease surgical site infection (SSI) rates among patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery with hardware implantation, according to a study. Patients who underwent MRSA decontamination with these protocols had an SSI rate of 1.1%, compared with a rate of 3.8% for those who did not.
Source: JAMA Surgery, May 2015.
