gms | German Medical Science

GMS Hygiene and Infection Control

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene (DGKH)

ISSN 2196-5226

Letter to the editor regarding “Chemical disinfection in healthcare settings: critical aspects for the development of global strategies”

Letter to the Editor

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  • corresponding author Roald Papke - Sana Klinikum Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany

GMS Hyg Infect Control 2021;16:Doc22

doi: 10.3205/dgkh000393, urn:nbn:de:0183-dgkh0003937

Veröffentlicht: 24. Juni 2021

© 2021 Papke.
Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). Lizenz-Angaben siehe http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Letter to the editor

In the publication by Exner et al. [1], it states “Alcohol-based handrubs, containing ethanol or 1-propanol or 2-propanol as their main active substances are the gold standard for handrubs in Europe. For example, the German KRINKO recommends the use of alcohol-based products without any other additives such as chlorhexidine (CHG) or mecetronium ethylsulfate. Concern as to resistance development of certain bacterial strains to chlorhexidine is increasing, e.g., CHG resistance may be detected in multi-resistant isolates such as extremely drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].”

In the cited KRINKO recommendation [4] sustained effective additives in alcohol-based hand disinfectants are not recommended, and the following antiseptic agents are given exemplary: chlorhexidine digluconate, octenidine hydrochloride, polihexanide, triclosan, quaternary ammonium compounds, ampholytes and phenol derivatives. In this context, allow me to ask whether mecetronium ethylilsulfate can be used as an active ingredient.


Notes

Competing interests

The author declares that he has no competing interests.


References

1.
Exner M, Bhattacharya S, Gebel J, Goroncy-Bermes P, Hartemann P, Heeg P, Ilschner C, Kramer A, Ling ML, Merkens W, Oltmanns P, Pitten F, Rotter M, Schmithausen RM, Sonntag HG, Steinhauer K, Trautmann M. Chemical disinfection in healthcare settings: critical aspects for the development of global strategies. GMS Hyg Infect Control. 2020 Dec 23;15:Doc36. DOI: 10.3205/dgkh000371 Externer Link
2.
Kampf G. Acquired resistance to chlorhexidine – is it time to establish an ‘antiseptic stewardship’ initiative? J Hosp Infect. 2016 Nov;94(3):213-27. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2016.08.018 Externer Link
3.
Hardy K, Sunnucks K, Gil H, Shabir S, Trampari E, Hawkey P, Webber M. Increased Usage of Antiseptics Is Associated with Reduced Susceptibility in Clinical Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. mBio. 2018 May;9(3):e00894-18. DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00894-18 Externer Link
4.
Kommission für Krankenhaushygiene und Infektionsprävention am Robert Koch-Institut. Empfehlungen zur Händehygiene. Bundesgesundheitsbl. 2016;59:1189-220.
5.
Saleem HG, Seers CA, Sabri AN, Reynolds EC. Dental plaque bacteria with reduced susceptibility to chlorhexidine are multidrug resistant. BMC Microbiol. 2016 Sep;16:214. DOI: 10.1186/s12866-016-0833-1 Externer Link
6.
Choudhury MA, Sidjabat HE, Rathnayake IU, Gavin N, Chan RJ, Marsh N, Banu S, Huygens F, Paterson DL, Rickard CM, McMillan DJ. Culture-independent detection of chlorhexidine resistance genes qacA/B and smr in bacterial DNA recovered from body sites treated with chlorhexidine-containing dressings. J Med Microbiol. 2017 Apr;66(4):447-53. DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.000463 Externer Link