The use of digestive and oral decontaminants in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) who are mechanically ventilated and who have moderate to high antibiotic resistance is not associated with a reduction in ICU-acquired bloodstream infections caused by multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. According to the results of a randomized clinical trial conducted by investigators in the Netherlands and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), when compared with standard care, the use of chlorhexidine (CHX) 1% mouthwash, selective oropharyngeal decontamination (SOD), and selective digestive tract decontamination (SDD) made no discernible difference in whether patients developed bloodstream infections from multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria.

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