For cleansing hands and forearms prior to surgery or patient care. Chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) is a water-soluble, broad-spectrum, fast-acting, persistent antimicrobial solution utilized for surgical hand scrub, patient preoperative preparation, catheter site prep and routine hand washing. CHGs activity can be reduced by natural soaps, various inorganic anions, nonionic surfactants and hand creams containing anionic emulsifying agents because it is a cationic molecule. Its antimicrobial activity is attributed to attachment to and subsequent disruption of cytoplasmic membranes. CHG is not sporicidal but has good activity against gram-positive bacteria and somewhat less activity against gram-negative bacteria and fungi. It also demonstrates in vitro activity against enveloped viruses and less activity against nonenveloped viruses. Both 2% and 4% solutions are efficacious with 4% being slightly more efficacious. CHG should not be used to prep the face (eye or ear area), the mucous membranes or the meninges.