Hand antiseptics: rubs versus scrubs, alcoholic solutions versus alcoholicgels

This report describes three different investigations undertaken to demonstr ate the advantage of fluid alcoholic hand disinfectants. In the first study , the skin compatibility of Sterillium, a liquid alcoholic rub-in hand disi nfectant was compared with that of Hibiscrub, a water-based hand-washing an tiseptic. Using various parameters such as image analysis of removed squame s (D-squames), skin roughness or transepidermal water loss, Hibiscrub was f ound to be significantly inferior to Sterillium. Hibiscrub caused skin irri tation in 15 volunteers who could not complete the test. In a second study, the microbicidal efficacy of Sterillium and Hibiscrub wa s tested in surgical hand disinfection. The microbial reduction by Sterilli um was significantly greater than that of Hibiscrub, immediately after appl ication as well as after the surgical procedure. In a third study, certain alcoholic gels were tested according to the EN 1500 'hygienic hand disinfec tion'. None of the gels tested passed the EN 1500 within 30s. However, Ster illium met the EN 1500 requirement within 30s. We conclude that Sterillium is superior to Hibiscrub in terms of skin tolerance and microbicidal effica cy in surgical hand disinfection. It is also superior to alcoholic gels. (C ) 2001 The Hospital Infection Society.