Evaluation of the Role of Novel Aprotic Dimethyl Sulfoxide in Cutaneous Antisepsis Protocols Prior to Blood Donor Phlebotomy with Isopropyl Alcohol, Povidone Iodine or Chlorhexidine

The study was planned to measure the reduction of the load of bacterial flora on the blood donor’s arm quantitatively using a three step protocol of donor arm cleansing incorporating either 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or 5% w/v povidone iodine (PVI, 0.5% w/v available iodine) or 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) with or without the addition of 5% dimethyl sufloxide (DMSO). Single blind randomized study after obtaining ethical clearance, using the Miles and Misra technique for quantification and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization-mass spectrometry for identification of colony morphotypes on blood donor’s skin. The mean pre-cleansing colony forming units (CFUs) was 89,318 and mean post-cleansing CFUs was 132, with a mean reduction of 99.85% with a mean log reduction of 3.24 (95% CI 2.01–4.47) at a P value of <0.0001. The post-cleansing CFUs was reduced to zero in all 34 samples in the protocol using CHG with DMSO, in 23 of 31 samples in the protocol using PVI with DMSO and 19 of 29 samples in the protocol using IPA with DMSO. The difference in means of the reduction of CFUs in protocols using CHG with DMSO compared with protocols using PVI or IPA with DMSO and PVI or IPA without DMSO was statistically significant with P value of 0.006, 0.0009, 0.015 and 0.05 respectively. The enhanced cutaneous antisepsis effect of CHG when complimented with DMSO in presence of IPA using the three step protocol of donor arm cleansing could stimulate more research and utilization of this as an additional safety towards the prevention of the problem of bacterial contamination of blood and blood components.