Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Mar 17;21(1):266.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-021-05963-6.

Combination inhibition activity of chlorhexidine and antibiotics on multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in vitro

Fei Lin  1 , Bin Yu  2 , Qinghui Wang  3 , Mingyong Yuan  1 , Baodong Ling  4
Affiliations
Free PMC article

Combination inhibition activity of chlorhexidine and antibiotics on multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in vitro

Fei Lin et al. BMC Infect Dis. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

Background: Chlorhexidine is a widely used disinfectant in clinical settings and a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent effective against aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. However, disinfectant resistant or non-susceptible bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii, have been found. This study aimed to develop a new technique to prevent and control A. baumannii infection in the hospital setting.

Methods: Chlorhexidine combined with minocycline, doxycycline, meropenem, imipenem, levofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were tested against the 30 multidrug-resistant and extremely drug-resistant A. baumannii clinical isolates. The checkerboard test was used to calculate the fractional inhibitory concentration index according to the minimum inhibitory concentration value for chlorhexidine combined with antibiotics.

Results: The combination of chlorhexidine with minocycline, doxycycline, meropenem, or ciprofloxacin showed synergistic responses in all clinical isolates, and more than 50% of isolates showed FICI ≤0.5. However, chlorhexidine together with imipenem or levofloxacin showed indifferent responses in 10% and 3.33% clinical isolates, respectively. In all tests, combinations of chlorhexidine with each of the above six antibiotics showed synergistic and additive effects, and inhibited the clinical isolates.

Conclusions: We concluded that, chlorhexidine combined with antibiotics could be used to control the risk of infection with A. baumannii.

Keywords: A. baumannii; Antibiotics; Antiseptics; Chlorhexidine; In vitro.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Thomas, L.et al., Development of resistance to chlorhexidine diacetate in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the effect of a 'residual' concentration. J Hosp Infect, 2000. 46(4): p. 297–303, DOI: 10.1053/jhin.2000.0851. - PubMed
    1. McDonnell G, Russell AD. Antiseptics and disinfectants: activity, action, and resistance. Clin Microbiol Rev. 1999;12(1):147–179. doi: 10.1128/CMR.12.1.147. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Borer A, Gilad J, Porat N, Megrelesvilli R, Saidel-Odes L, Peled N, Eskira S, Schlaeffer F, Almog Y. Impact of 4% chlorhexidine whole-body washing on multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii skin colonisation among patients in a medical intensive care unit. J Hosp Infect. 2007;67(2):149–155. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2007.07.023. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ozcaka O, et al. Chlorhexidine decreases the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia in intensive care unit patients: a randomized clinical trial. J Periodontal Res. 2012;47(5):584–592. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0765.2012.01470.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kim HY, Lee WK, Na S, Roh YH, Shin CS, Kim J. The effects of chlorhexidine gluconate bathing on health care-associated infection in intensive care units: a meta-analysis. J Crit Care. 2016;32:126–137. doi: 10.1016/j.jcrc.2015.11.011. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms