ABSTRACT
Povidone Iodine and Cetrimide-c are important and valuable antiseptic compounds that have been used for many years, as disinfectant for wounds, burns, instruments and the environments such as surgical rooms in the hospitals. Recently, bacterial resistances to these antiseptics have been reported in multi-drugs resistance bacteria such as Enterococci, which are important causes of nosocomial infections. This study was done to confirm the antiseptic activity of these agents: In this study 5 isolates of Escherichia coli and 13 isolates of Enterococci being resistant or sensitive to at least 5 antibacterial agents, including vancomycin, isolated from urinary tract infections were used. The concentrations of 1:2, 1:5, 1:10, 1:20 and 1:100, of povidon Iodoine, and 1:200 and 1: 500 for cetrimide-c were used. Concentrations of 5x10[7] and 1x10[7] CFU/ml [Colony Forming Unit] of the bacteria were tested at room temperature in the presence of Povidone-Iodine and Cetrimide-c for 2, 10, 30 minutes. After treatment of the bacteria with antibacterial agents the bacteria were washed three times with phosphate buffer in order to remove the small amounts of antibacterial agents that were present in the inoculums used for bacterial growth. The results shows that in all cases the bacteria which were in contact with the antiseptic agents were unable to grow on solid media, whereas the control bacteria which were not in contact with the antibacterial agents had complete growth on the solid medium. Since resistance to the above mentioned antiseptics were not detected at different concentrations of antibacterial agents and the bacterial suspensions, these agents can still be used in the hospitals and other clinical centers for the disinfection of the skin and contaminated instruments. However continuous monitoring of the antiseptic activity of these compounds is recommended