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Effect of Bathing on Skin Flora of Preterm Newborns

Journal of Perinatology volume 25, pages 375–379 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To assess the effect of bathing with water only or with mild pH neutral soap and water on skin flora of preterm newborns.

METHOD:

Randomized blinded clinical trial that enrolled 73 preterm newborns whose gestational age was between 28 and 35 weeks and birth weight between 800 and 1800 g. At the age of 3 days the infants were randomly assigned to a group that was given daily baths either with water only, or with soap and water for 7 or more days. Antibiotic treatment delayed onset of the trial in some preterm infants. On the final day of bathing axillary bacterial cultures were obtained before and 30 minutes after bathing.

RESULTS:

At the time of axillary culturing, the mean age of the newborns was 19 days. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus was the most prevalent microorganism in both groups. No significant difference was found in the count of microorganism colonies between both groups. The comparison of the number of bacterial colonies between the time before and after bath, carried out by repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant difference over time in the two groups, without a significant difference between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS:

Bathing preterm newborns with water only or with soap and water produces similar effects on skin colonization of a preterm neonate. Both are effective to decrease the number of colonies of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Prof. Dr. Mario Wagner for his assistance with the statistical analysis, and Dr. Suzana Barcellos for her assistance at Microbiology Laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Newborn Section, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul and Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

    Maria Luzia Chollopetz da Cunha RN, PhD & Renato S Procianoy MD, PhD

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  1. Maria Luzia Chollopetz da Cunha RN, PhD
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  2. Renato S Procianoy MD, PhD
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Additional information

Financial assistance: This project was partially funded by the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre Research Incentive Fund (FIPE-HCPA) Grant no 02318.

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da Cunha, M., Procianoy, R. Effect of Bathing on Skin Flora of Preterm Newborns. J Perinatol 25, 375–379 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211332

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