Impact of universal chlorhexidine bathing with or without COVID-19 intensive training on staff and resident COVID-19 case rates in nursing homes

Gabrielle M Gussin; Raveena D Singh; Shruti K Gohil; Raheeb Saavedra; Thomas T Tjoa; Kristine P Nguyen; Robert Pedroza; Joshua B Hsi; Kevin O'Brien; Chase Berman; Jessica Park; Emily A Hsi; Kimia Ghasemian; Avy Osalvo; Stephanie Chun; Emily Fonda; Susan S Huang

doi:10.1017/ice.2024.30

Impact of universal chlorhexidine bathing with or without COVID-19 intensive training on staff and resident COVID-19 case rates in nursing homes

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2024 Mar 5:1-4. doi: 10.1017/ice.2024.30. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Gabrielle M Gussin¹, Raveena D Singh¹, Shruti K Gohil¹, Raheeb Saavedra¹, Thomas T Tjoa¹, Kristine P Nguyen¹, Robert Pedroza¹, Joshua B Hsi¹, Kevin O'Brien¹, Chase Berman¹, Jessica Park¹, Emily A Hsi¹, Kimia Ghasemian¹, Avy Osalvo¹, Stephanie Chun¹, Emily Fonda², Susan S Huang¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, CA, USA.
² CalOptima, Orange, CA, USA.

PMID: 38440877
DOI: 10.1017/ice.2024.30

Abstract

We evaluated whether universal chlorhexidine bathing (decolonization) with or without COVID-19 intensive training impacted COVID-19 rates in 63 nursing homes (NHs) during the 2020-2021 Fall/Winter surge. Decolonization was associated with a 43% lesser rise in staff case-rates (P < .001) and a 52% lesser rise in resident case-rates (P < .001) versus control.