Table 3.
Number of cultures
| Type of culture | Control group | Treatment group | Fisher's exact test | ||||
| n | Positive n | Number of patients with positive cultures | n | Positive n | Number of patients with positive cultures | ||
| All | 122 | 25 | 5/7 | 118 | 33 | 6/8 | NS |
| Blood | 32 | 5 | 3/7 (3/5) | 30 | 0 | 0/8 (0/5) | NS |
| Catheter tips | 22 | 4 | 3/7 (3/4) | 22 | 4 | 3/8 (3/6) | NS |
| Tracheal secretions | 14 | 6 | 2/7 (2/6) | 15 | 6 | 5/8 (5/6) | NS |
| Urine | 19 | 1 | 1/7 (1/7) | 18 | 4 | 2/8 2(/6) | NS |
Figures in parentheses show the number of patients with positive cultures in relation to the number of patients from whom the respective type of culture were taken. In the treated group, five cultures were positive in the control group while no positive cultures were found in the treatment group. Due to the small numbers of patients (we performed statistics as participating patients and not as independent cultures), a significant difference was not reached (NS, not significant).