Pre-incision antibiotic prophylaxis reduces the incidence of post-caesarean surgical site infection

J Brown1, M Thompson, S Sinnya

  • 1Queensland Health, Cairns Base Hospital, Cairns, Australia.

A two-part prospective study was conducted to assess rates of surgical site infection (SSI) following caesarean section in a large Australian regional hospital before and after a change of timing of antibiotic prophylaxis from after cord clamping to pre-incision. SSI rates dropped from 10.8% in 2010 to 2.8% in 2011 with no adverse neonatal consequences, providing further evidence that antibiotic prophylaxis should be given pre-incision for caesarean section in hospitals in Australia and New Zealand, as is now accepted practice elsewhere.

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