Determination and comparison of the antimicrobial efficacy of alcohol based hand hygiene products

Abstract: Hand hygiene is a general definition for the act of “hand cleaning” which is important for the control and prevention of infectious diseases in society. Hand hygiene is intended to reduce the number of microorganisms on people’s hands to a non-infectious level. In this study, we assessed the antimicrobial activities of 9 alcohol-based hand hygiene products that are produced in Turkey. The antimicrobial activities of 3 each hand rubs, hand washes, and hand wipes were tested against to Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Escherichia coli ATCC10538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC15442, Enterococcus hirae ATCC10541 and Candida albicans ATCC10231 according to the European Standard methods (pr)E12054 and EN1275. 70% ethanol+0.3% triclosan and benzyl alcohol+methyl isothiazolinone were the 2 most effective agents within 1 min of treatment, followed by 70% ethanol+0.1% triclosan+benzalkonium chloride and 70% ethanol+0.1% triclosan against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC6538, Escherichia coli ATCC10538, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC15442, Enterococcus hirae ATCC10541 and Candida albicans ATCC10231. According to these results, it was observed that the antimicrobial activity of the studied products was dependent on the composition of products, duration of exposure and the type of product. Key words: Alcohol, hand hygiene, hand gel, hand wash, hand wipe, in vitro antimicrobial activity