Evaluation of a Staphylococcus Eradication Protocol for Patients Who Present to the ED With Cutaneous Abscess

Completed · Phase 4

Conditions studied: Cutaneous Abscess

In brief

In this study, the investigators will enroll patients who present to the emergency department with abscesses to the study. The patients will be randomly selected to either have the standard of care, which includes the standard drainage of the abscess and then usually a follow-up visit to recheck the wound, or to have the standard of care plus instructions to use a topical scrub of a soap called chlorhexidine once a day for five days and twice daily application of a topical antibiotic ointment called mupirocin to the nasal passages for five days. The investigators will then call back the patients at 7 days, 14 days (if in the treatment arm), 3 months and 6 months, to ask if they have had any recurrence of abscess formation. The study hypothesis is that the patients who have undergone the decontamination protocol will have fewer subsequent infections.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01537783

Run by

Tufts Medical Center

People needed

50

Starts

2011-09-01

Expected to finish

2013-09-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-04-13

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Adult patients aged 18 years of age or older who present to our emergency department with a skin abscess which has undergone incision and drainage in which pus was present, and for whom the attending emergency physician is planning on discharging the patient home.

You may not qualify if…

• Abscesses resulting from insect or animal bites or intravenous drug use (both of which can be polymicrobial), chronic wounds (>2 weeks), wounds where no drainage was obtained in the course of the I\&D, reported allergy to chlorhexidine or mupirocin, lack of ability to follow-up the patient (lack of phone number or stable address). Additionally, patients will be excluded who are of high acuity (unstable vital signs), in distress, with an insurmountable language barrier, intoxication (or other cause of altered mental status), presenting with acute psychiatric illness, are victims of possible sexual assault, or prisoners.

Where it is running

• Tufts Medical Center — Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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