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Impact of the amount of hand rub applied in hygienic hand disinfection on the reduction of microbial counts on hands.
J Hosp Infect. 2010 Jan 8;
Authors: Goroncy-Bermes P, Koburger T, Meyer B
Two different hand rubs were tested in order to investigate the minimum volume required for microbicidal efficacy according to the European Norm EN 1500; we also sought to determine whether there is a correlation with hand size. Eight male volunteers with big hands (mean 184cm(2)) and eight female volunteers with significantly smaller hands (mean 148cm(2); P<0.001) participated in our study. Application of 2mL of both products (P) provided mean log(10) reductions significantly smaller than those of the reference disinfectant (R) (product A: P=3.34, R=4.00, P=0.001; product B: P=3.37, R=3.75, P=0.022). Higher volumes (product A: 3 and 4mL; product B: 2.5, 3 and 4mL) ensured that the pass criteria of the European Norm (EN) 1500 were fulfilled. For both products log(10) reductions increased with increasing product volume until a plateau was reached. For the smaller female hands, this plateau level was reached after applying 3mL of product A and 2.5mL of product B. The plateau level on male hands was observed after treating the hands with >/=4mL of product A and 3mL of product B. The increase in product volume also correlated with the decrease in the number of volunteers considering the product volume applied as insufficient. In conclusion, the applied volume for hygienic hand rub should not fall below 3mL in order to achieve maximum benefit.
PMID: 20061058 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]