Prophylactic efficacy of four antibacterial shampoos against Staphylococcus intermedius in dogs

Prophylactic efficacy of 4 antibacterial shampoos against Staphylococcus intermedius in dogs was determined by use of a controlled quantitative technique. Ten adult Beagles were used in the study. The antibacterial agents in the shampoos were 3.0% benzoyl peroxide, 0.5% chlorhexidine acetate, 1.0% available iodine as a polyalkyleneglycol-iodine complex, and a combination of 0.5% triclosan, 2.0% sulfur, and 2.0% salicylic acid. Treated and control sites were challenge exposed with 5.30 +/- 0.10 (log10) S intermedius colony-forming units (CFU)/cm2 of skin and occluded for 5 hours. At the end of the test period, remaining bacteria were removed with a detergent cup-scrub technique and the total number of S intermedius CFU/cm2 skin was calculated for each treated and control site. Nontreated bacteria-challenged control sites yielded 5.62 +/- 0.65 S intermedius CFU/cm2 of skin. Staphylococcus intermedius recovery (CFU/cm2) from the treated sites was 0.94 +/- 0.76 for benzoyl peroxide, 1.96 +/- 1.33 for chlorhexidine acetate, 3.11 +/- 0.48 for organic iodine, and 4.69 +/- 0.23 for triclosan-sulfur-salicylic acid. Each S intermedius recovery value from the 4 treated sites was significantly (P less than 0.05) lower than that from the nontreated S intermedius challenge-exposed control site. Bacteria recovery values were also significantly (P less than 0.05) different among the 4 shampoo-treated sites. We concluded that all shampoos had significant (P less than 0.05) prophylactic activity against S intermedius over 5 hours. The shampoo containing benzoyl peroxide was determined to have the greatest efficacy among the products tested.