[Correspondence] WHO's recommendation for surgical skin antisepsis is premature

The new WHO guidelines on prevention of surgical site infections1 recommend chlorhexidine-alcohol rather than aqueous povidone-iodine or povidone-iodine with alcohol for surgical skin preparation. This recommendation was provided as a “strong recommendation” with “low to moderate” quality of evidence. One of us (AFW) was a member of the guidelines development group that formulated the WHO recommendations. However, we are now concerned with the completeness and quality of the evidence that led to the chlorhexidine-alcohol recommendation.
Source: The Lancet Infectious Diseases - Category: Infectious Diseases Authors: Tags: Correspondence Source Type: research