Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin
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Comparative Study
Evaluation of antiseptics by the modified phenol coefficient method: sensitivity of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
The relationship between an effective concentration and the duration of exposure to antiseptics was evaluated in strains of Staphylococcus aureus with a known genetic background, which include methicillin-resistant strains, using a modified version of the phenol coefficient method as part of an effort to investigate the antiseptic resistance of S. aureus. Chlorhexidine digluconate killed an antiseptic-sensitive strain within 1.5 min at 22 degrees C at a standard concentration (0.1%), whereas resistant strains still survived after 1.5 min. ⋯ These results indicate that the modified phenol coefficient method used is suitable for the evaluation of the sensitivity of microorganisms to antiseptics. An antiseptic-resistant chain that was associated with the ebr gene exhibited cross-resistance to povidone-iodine.