Is there a risk for bacterial transmission from surgical marker pens

Summary Markers for preoperative skin marking are used several times and bear a risk of transmitting bacteria. Bacterial contamination was assessed by sonication and culture. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) was performed for facultative pathogens to asses Multi-drug-resistance (MDR). An accelerated failure time model was applied to assess the statistical relationship between the bacterial contamination and the filling status of markers. Of 45 markers, 13 had a colony count