Sources of exogenous infection in the operation theatre could be the air and the environment of the theatre. Standard cleaning, disinfection and sterilization procedures, good theatre practice and discipline can provide a microbiologically safe environment. Air borne contamination is mainly derived from the personnel in the theatre and their activities. The bacterial count in OT is influenced by number of individuals, ventilation and airflow. Failure to provide adequate operation theatre ventilation, associated with risk of post-operative infection, has been found to be a critical factor in specialty surgeries like prosthetic and joint surgery. In a multi-centric study of hip and knee operations performed under guided airflow incidence of sepsis was significantly lower than in operations performed under conventional ventilation.

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