A Technique for Studying the Action of Antiseptics on Bacteria in Subcutaneous Tissues, With Special Reference to Chlorhexidine

Bacteria which gain access to a freshly inflicted wound are at first external to the tissues and do not immediately cause any reaction.During this stage, which is commonly said to last up to about six hours, the wound is described as contaminated, and the organisms in it may be susceptible to antiseptics.Later, when bacteria have invaded the tissues, the wound is described as infected, and locally applied antiseptics are at a great dis- advantage.The great differences which exist (and the difficulties in defining them) between accidental wounds in man and animals in respect of the age and nutritional status of the subject on the one hand, and the nature, site, severity, and degree of contamination of the wound on the other, have made the task of carrying out adequately controlled clinical trials of the value of antiseptics extremely formidable.In fact, only two such trials have been carried out, one by Williams and Miles (1949) dealing with several antiseptics, and a co-operative one carried out by groups cf American workers on the value of locally applied sulphonamides reported by Meleney (1945).A study on a smaller scale, but carried out in great bacteriological detail, was reported by Florey,