Butcher's knife wounds, are they really so contaminated?

The aerobic flora found in wounds caused by butcher's knives was compared with the flora in similar wounds caused by other sharp objects. Gram-positive bacteria predominated in the wounds caused by butcher's knives while the other cuts were colonised predominantly by Gram-negative flora. Identically low concentrations of colonising bacteria were found in both groups. The qualitative analysis provided no bacteriological argument for treating a wound from a butcher's knife as being more infected and therefore produced no contraindication for the primary reconstruction of damaged structures (i.e., tendons and nerves) together with skin closure in this type of injury.