Hand sanitisers:15 seconds rub to kill bacteria
Many of us rely on hand sanitiser to keep us ‘germ free’ while travelling or while grabbing lunch on the go.
But while most just rub a blob into their hand and carry on with their day, a study suggests the gels are only effective if thoroughly applied for 15 seconds.
Although this may sound unnecessary, it is actually half as complicated as the World Health Organization’s advice, which recommends applying hand sanitiser in a six-step, 30-second process.
The research was carried out by University Hospital Basel and led by Dr Sarah Tschudin-Sutter, of the Department of Infectiology and Hospital Hygiene.
Hand hygiene is the single most effective thing healthcare workers can do to reduce the spread of infectious diseases, the scientists claim.
The WHO says sanitiser is the ‘preferred route’ due to it being ‘faster, more effective and better tolerated than washing with soap and water’.
However, there is limited evidence on which ‘hand gel technique’ is most effective, they warned.
The WHO recommends rubbing an alcohol-based product in for 20-to-30 seconds, however, adherence to this has been shown to be poor.
As a first step, it advises a ‘palm-full’ amount of the gel is applied.
Hands should then be rubbed palm-to-palm, before placing the right over the left and interlacing the fingers.
This process should then be repeated with the left hand over the right.
The palms should then be rubbed together with the fingers interlaced.
As a fifth step, the backs of the fingers should be rubbed against the opposing palms, as well as thumb being covered in the sanitiser.
Once the hands are dry, they are ‘safe’.
The findings will be presented in full at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Amsterdam.
The researchers stress, however, the study was carried out in a laboratory and therefore different results may occur in a clinical setting.
They also only looked at how hand sanitisers reduce bacteria and not other pathogens, such as viruses.