Contamination of cetrimide and other fluids with Pseudomonas pyocyanea.

cream applied locally or used for holding sterile instruments might be conveying the infective agent. Soap solution, cetrimide, " dettol" and calamine lotion are commonly dispensed in large corked or stoppered bottles which are sometimes not replaced for many days, and during that time they are frequently opened. Contamination of such bottles is likely, and the survival or multiplication of some coliforms and especially of Pseudomonas pyocyanea is reported to be possible even in solutions of cetrimide (Williams, Clayton-Cooper, Faulkner, and Thomas, 1944). It is common both in factory surgeries and in hospitals for injuries to be cleansed with soap solution or cetrimide and for Cheattle's forceps to be kept standing in dilute " dettol ". The presence of added infection with Ps. pyocyanea in a number of adequately covered wounds prompted the sampling of various fluids and creams.