Nose treatment cuts hospital-acquired infections

If you’re checking into the hospital for surgery, doctors may soon be swabbing your nose in an effort to prevent an infection from appearing after your operation.

Researchers in the Netherlands said on Wednesday they were able to cut the risk of a common bacterium by nearly 60 percent by first looking for signs of it in the nose and then treating it with an antibiotic nasal gel and full body wash.

The treatment combination also shaved two days off a typical 14-day stay in the hospital.

Hospital-acquired infections are a major problem in medicine, so doctors are always looking for the best way to reduce the risk.

About 27 million surgeries are done just in the United States each year, and in as many as half a million cases, infections occur at the site of surgery.

Up to 30 percent of those infections are caused by strains of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which otherwise benignly resides in the nose and on the skin.

The new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, used a rapid test to identify which patients, most of whom were scheduled to undergo surgery, had the bacteria in at least one nostril.

The 504 patients treated with the antibiotic nose gel mupirocin, also known as Bactroban, and washed with chlorhexidine, a common ingredient in mouthwash, developed an S. aureus infection 3.4 percent of the time. The rate for 413 volunteers given placebo treatment was 7.7 percent.

Nose treatment, Nose treatment Health, Nose treatment  Health Latest, Nose treatment Health Information, Nose treatment Health Photo,Nose treatment for Weight Health photo, Nose treatment Health Latest, Nose treatment Video, Nose treatment  Health History, Nose treatment  over Picture, history, Nose treatment Asia, Nose treatment asia, Nose treatment  Gallery, Nose treatment  for Weight gallery, Nose treatment  Photo Gallery, Nose treatment Picture, Malaysia Health, web Health, web Health picture, video photo, video surgery, gallery, laparoscopy, virus, flu, drug, video, Health Health, Nose treatments, photo, Drinking,health video, symptoms, Nose treatment, medical, beating, diet, physical, Training, organic, gym, blister, exercise, weightloss, surgery, spiritual, eating, tips, skin, operation