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Response to correspondence from Koerner and colleagues concerning our paper entitled: The effect of diluting povidone-iodine on bacterial growth associated with speech

The Original Article was published on 17 January 2020

Abstract

Clinicians adopt varying strategies for antisepsis with PI, which to this day remains efficient, economical and effective. Clinicians should prudently consider effective PI application, and we thank Koerner and Grzybowski for encouraging debate and raising the profile of this issue.

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We thank Koerner and Grzybowski [1] for their comments regarding the study on the effect of diluting povidone-iodine (PI) on bacterial growth associated with speech [2]. We agree that there are no standardized reliable ways to simulate the ocular surface to analyse this in vitro, and stress that the emphasis of this study design is to add to the evidence base. This study demonstrated the differences in PI dilution and significant bacterial culture growth with bacterial droplet dispersal associated with speech. Whilst there is evidence to suggest lower doses of PI is effective [3], we note that other evidence suggest that these lower doses require several applications [4]. Clinicians adopt varying strategies for antisepsis with PI, which to this day remains efficient, economical and effective [5]. Clinicians should prudently consider effective PI application, and we again thank Koerner and Grzybowski for encouraging debate and raising the profile of this issue.

Availability of data and materials

The dataset used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Abbreviations

PI:

poviodone-iodine

References

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Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Funding

The Centre for Eye Research Australia receives operational infrastructure support from the Victorian Government. The funder had no role in our study.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

SG contributed to the study design, data collection and manuscript writing. SR and SW contributed to data analysis, data interpretation and manuscript writing. SS contributed to data analysis, data interpretation, manuscript writing and co-ordinated the study. The author(s) read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sivashanth Gnanasekaran.

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This study was originally approved by The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital’s human research ethics committee and involved a series of healthy participants. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Gnanasekaran, S., Rogers, S., Wickremasinghe, S. et al. Response to correspondence from Koerner and colleagues concerning our paper entitled: The effect of diluting povidone-iodine on bacterial growth associated with speech. BMC Ophthalmol 20, 328 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12886-020-01599-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12886-020-01599-3

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