The influence of penicillin on experimental wound contamination with staphylococci: studies with chromic catgut and monofilament nylon closure.

This study examines the ability of penicillin to eradicate or modify the pattern of infection in experimental wounds contaminated with Staphylococcus pyrogenes in the presence of chromic catgut or monofilament nylon suture. Penicillin therapy initiated within 4 days of the onset of infection was successful in eradicating infection when compared with untreated controls (P less than 0-01). Infection was modified but not eradicated in penicillin was administered from the seventh day. The response of infection to penicillin was identical in wounds containing monofilament nylon or chromic catgut over a 21-day period. Antibiotics given before wound drainage permitted healing of all chronically infected wounds even in the presence of monofilament nylon. When antibiotics were begun at the time of drainage, wound healing occurred in 50 per cent (P less than 0-01).