Misleading hand gel sanitizers… waist of money?

April 10, 2010
New study reports: hand gels are misleading, only killed 60 per cent of germs at best.

• Hands on proper hand hygiene!
Last year, when swine flu hit, sales of some products rocketed by 70 per cent. Yet do hand gels really help? A study carried out in December 2009 by Ottawa University found that some brands that claimed to kill ’99 per cent’ of germs did not – at the very best they killed 60 per cent, and at worst just 46 per cent.

A dailymail report describes:

“The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says it has had to investigate numerous hand-cleaning products for making claims that they can kill specific viruses such as swine flu or MRSA. They are not allowed to make these claims, because it gives the impression they have some medical effect. Gels can only really help kill everyday germs, such as those that cause the common cold. Yet few people realise that the hands have to be clean in order for many hand gels to work.

‘Like many cleaning agents, most hand gels will be less effective in the presence of protein matter, such as food, mud, faecal matter or blood,’ says Dr Ron Cutler, a microbiologist from Queen Mary, University of London. ‘You really need to wash off all visible signs of dirt before they will be totally effective.’ Many hand gels contain alcohol, which kills germs by attacking their outer membrane. For maximum benefit, a hand gel should contain at least 62 per cent alcohol – but no more than 80 per cent. This is because the gel should contain some water, as once the outer membrane of the bacteria or virus has been penetrated it is water that kills it.

But new research suggests that hands gels won’t protect against gastroenteritis or viral stomach bugs such as norovirus. Furthermore, a recent study by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Belfast, found that even Spirigel, the alcohol-based gel used in NHS hospitals, stops working within seconds of use. A non-alcohol gel offered much longer protection, killing viruses for up to 24 hours after it was applied.

Should we abandon alcohol hand gels? Non-alcohol gels work in a variety of ways. Byotrol, the gel used in this study, contains mainly water, but the gel forms an invisible layer that stays on the hands and literally pulls bacteria and viruses apart. Some others, such as No Germs, use chemical antibacterial agents or even essential oils. ‘When alcohol hand gels were first introduced years ago, it was so much better than anything else,’ says microbiologist Stephen Falder, who helped develop Byotrol. ‘But if you were going to start designing a hand gel now from scratch, you would abandon alcohol.’

He adds: ‘Alcohol stops working almost as soon as it’s dry, and does not give you residual protection.’ other experts disagree and say that while the effects of non-alcohol hand gels may last longer, alcohol is better at killing germs.

Professor John oxford, a virus expert from St Barts and Royal london Hospital, says he would always prefer an alcohol-based gel. ‘Yes, it might not work against things like norovirus, but norovirus is a very difficult bug to get rid of and nonalcohol gels won’t work against it either – little will. ‘The alcohol ones do work and certainly work against things like swine flu.’

Mr Cutler backs him up. ‘If my hands were dirty, I would wash them first with soap and water, using lots of agitation. ‘This cleans off all visible dirt. I would then apply an alcohol hand gel to get rid of any residual bacteria. ‘There are non-alcohol based products, some for example contain citrus oils, but I am not sure how strong an alternative these are. Washing your hands is the best option. ‘This should definitely be done after you go to the loo, after changing a nappy, after you sneeze, before you eat, before preparing food and after handling raw foods such as meat.’”

“‘You need to wash both the palms and the finger tips and around rings of the fingers, as bacteria can lodge there,’ says Dr Anthony Hilton, a reader in microbiology from Aston University. ‘Then you should dry with a paper towel or hand drier. However if this is not available, then alcohol-based hand gels can be a very good substitute.’”

Oct. 12, 2011 — Children need to wash up more often at school, and parents need to set a better hand-washing example. That’s according to a new survey by the American Cleaning Institute, which represents the U.S. cleaning products industry.For the online survey, 512 children (aged 8 to 17) and 521 parents answered questions about their hand-washing habits and beliefs. Although most children (89%) reported that they washed their hands after using the restroom at school, far fewer said that they wash their hands at other times during the school day. Nearly half said that the most common reason they failed to do so was because their school schedules did not allow them time.

For many students, the state of the schools’ toilets is a turn-off. Twenty-one percent of students surveyed said that they didn’t like using their school’s restrooms (15% found their school’s restrooms “disgusting”) while another 19% said their school restrooms didn’t have the proper supplies. Forty-seven percent occasionally avoid the restrooms because they are dirty.

Peer pressure also apparently plays a role. Although 14% of the children surveyed said they don’t wash their hands because no one else does, 77% report that seeing their friends wash their hands reminds them to wash their own.

And, finally, some kids simply need to be told but aren’t: 16% said that “No one reminds me to.”

Less than two-thirds of children say they wash their hands before lunch; 26% do not wash their hands after handling garbage. Only about half wash up after coughing, sneezing, or blowing their nose.

Hygiene Habits

Getting children into the habit of washing their hands starts at home. But a third of parents surveyed do not model the behavior, failing to wash their hands after using the bathroom. Another third have not taught their children how long they need to spend on hand washing. However, most parents (79%) say they insist on hand washing prior to meals at home.

Why is hand washing so important? According to the CDC, hand washing is one of the most effective means of stopping the spread of illness and infection. Most children (97%, according to the survey) already know this. Yet, the survey indicates, they — and, in some cases, their parents — need more time and encouragement to wash up.

“Good hygiene is one of the many life skills that schools can reinforce. Good hygiene helps keep students healthy and in school,” Nancy Bock, American Cleaning Institute vice president of consumer education, says in a news release. “Parents and teachers need to prompt kids daily, because cleaning matters to our health. Lessons learned in school last a lifetime.”

A recent survey of 160 UK schools and 49 school and specialist nurses that revealed a universal call for minimum standards for school toilet facilities.
In addition, recent research has indicated that 36% of secondary school pupils say that their toilets are never clean, with 42% reporting that soap is only available sometimes, and another 19% that there is never any soap. 40% of secondary school girls say they hang on all day so they don’t have to use the school toilets, while 1 in 4 of all secondary school pupils said that their toilets were too disgusting to use.
It would be interesting to see how our Australian school toilets would fair under a similar survey.
To view full story go to

http://www.nursingtimes.net/home/clinical-specialisms/continence/childhood-continence-campaign-opens-for-school-toilet-award-entries/5035455.article