NCT00475930

Chlorhexidine Impregnated Cloths to Prevent Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in Marine Officer Candidates

Chlorhexidine Impregnated Cloths to Prevent Skin and Soft Tissue Infections in Marine Officer Candidates: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 1,563 (actual)
• Sponsor: Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 35 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Outbreaks of skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) related to community associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have become increasingly common in military training units. Risk factors for MRSA related SSTI such as crowding, poor hygiene and shared equipment are often hard to avoid in a military training environment, often designed to simulate battlefield conditions. It has recently been demonstrated that military recruits colonized with MRSA may be at increased risk of developing SSTI. Studies in the hospital environment have shown that decolonizing inpatients known to carry MRSA decreases the rates of MRSA related infections in the treated individuals and also in their inpatient unit as a whole. The investigators propose a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial to: 1. Evaluate the effectiveness, feasibility, and safety of chlorhexidine body cloths, self-administered three times weekly, in preventing SSTI among recruits in military training facilities; and 2. Evaluate the effectiveness of chlorhexidine body cloths in decreasing rates of Staphylococcus aureus colonization among military recruits.

Conditions

• Staphylococcus Aureus
• Community-acquired Infections
• Staphylococcal Skin Infections

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DRUG	2% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) impregnated cloths	self applied three times per week
DRUG	Comfort Bath cloths (placebo cloths)	self applied three times weekly

Timeline

• Start date: 2007-05-01
• Primary completion: 2007-11-01
• Completion: 2007-11-01
• First posted: 2007-05-21
• Last updated: 2025-07-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States