{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,3]],"date-time":"2025-11-03T22:56:21Z","timestamp":1762210581998},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2009,5,15]],"date-time":"2009-05-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1242345600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":18611,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J. Hyg."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1958,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The air of operating theatres ventilated by powerful extractor fans was sampled during operations with special media for <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Staph. aureus<\/jats:italic>, and also for total organisms. Counts made with the slit-sampler showed the presence of <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> in all samples in a range slightly higher than that of <jats:italic>Staph. aureus<\/jats:italic> (mostly between five and twenty-five colonies per 100 cu.ft.). There was no evidence of a build-up of either <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> or <jats:italic>Staph. aureus<\/jats:italic> during the course of operations, nor were there any consistent peaks of contamination during operations.<\/jats:p><jats:p>Settle plates exposed on numerous days in the operating theatres showed similar counts of <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Staph. aureus<\/jats:italic>\u2014the latter slightly more abundant in this series. Settle-plate counts from many parts of the hospital and from the road outside provided evidence that airborne <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> comes into the hospital from outside, while <jats:italic>Staph. aureus<\/jats:italic> is contributed to the air inside the hospital. This view was supported by study with the slit-sampler and with settle plates in a dressing station ventilated with filtered air, where <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> was rarely found and <jats:italic>Staph. aureus<\/jats:italic> momentarily abundant during dressings; staphylococci but not <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> were dispersed by the operators in a mock operation. The numbers of airborne <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> inside and outside the hospital were higher in dry than in rainy weather.<\/jats:p><jats:p>Of the patients in the Burns Unit 35% had at some stage <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> in their burns; contamination was commoner in the more extensive burns. In contrast to <jats:italic>Staph. aureus, Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> was usually present in small numbers and for a short period.<\/jats:p><jats:p><jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> was found in the burns of twenty out of thirty (66%) patients whose rectal swab taken on admission showed the presence of <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic>; a significantly smaller proportion of patients whose rectal swabs were free from <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> picked up the organism while in hospital (eight out of thirty-two, 25%; x<jats:sup>2<\/jats:sup> = 9.4, P &lt; 0.01). This observation supports the view that burns and possibly other wounds acquire <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic> by self-infection at least as often as from the environment. While it is obvious that plenum ventilation of operating theatres with filtered air is desirable, it is uncertain to what extent this will reduce the small hazard of post-operative gas gangrene.<\/jats:p><jats:p>We wish to thank Miss G. Hogg and Mr L. Hurst, F.I.M.L.T. for technical assistance, the surgeons and nursing staff of the Birmingham Accident Hospital for their co-operation, Mr N. R. Gill for photography, and Professors A. A. Miles and C. L. Oakley for kindly sending us strains of <jats:italic>Cl. welchii<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0022172400037669","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,5,15]],"date-time":"2009-05-15T05:06:27Z","timestamp":1242363987000},"page":"169-182","update-policy":"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":26,"title":["The sources of Hospital infection of wounds with <i>Clostridium welchii<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"56","author":[{"given":"E. J. L.","family":"Lowbury","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"H. A.","family":"Lilly","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2009,5,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"S0022172400037669_ref022","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/path.1700570106"},{"key":"S0022172400037669_ref019","first-page":"257","article-title":"Post-operative wound infection","volume":"103","author":"Shooter","year":"1956","journal-title":"Surg. Gynaec. Obstet."},{"key":"S0022172400037669_ref016","first-page":"89","article-title":"Human skin lipids, with particular reference to the self-sterilising power of the skin","volume":"10","author":"Ricketts","year":"1951","journal-title":"Clin. 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Coun., Lond."},{"key":"S0022172400037669_ref008","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/path.1700550306"},{"key":"S0022172400037669_ref009","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(51)91396-7"},{"key":"S0022172400037669_ref020","volume-title":"Introduction to the Pathogenic Anaerobes","author":"Smith","year":"1955"}],"container-title":["Journal of Hygiene"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S0022172400037669","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2019,6,5]],"date-time":"2019-06-05T16:40:03Z","timestamp":1559752803000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S0022172400037669\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1958,6]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[1958,6]]}},"alternative-id":["S0022172400037669"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s0022172400037669","relation":{},"ISSN":["0022-1724"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0022-1724","type":"print"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1958,6]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Copyright \u00a9 Cambridge University Press 1958","name":"license","label":"License","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}}]}}