New methods for determining pre-operative and postoperative skin disinfection.

A comparison was made of the Thran pressurized spray gun and scrubbing with cotton swabs on the removal of organisms from the skin. Both methods showed similar results but sometimes considerable differences in counts were found on adjacent skin areas. The cotton swab method was used to compare the effect of 60 or 70% isopropanol and 10% povidone-iodine on the flora of the outer side of the upper arm over 24 h. With the exception of one test person, no significant difference was found between the disinfectants.