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Published on: February 25, 2011
Limited efficacy of alcohol-based hand gels
Axel Kramer1, Peter Rudolph, Gonter Kampf
1Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Abstract:
Alcohol-based gels have been introduced recently in many hospitals worldwide for hand antisepsis. We investigated the antimicrobial efficacy of ten gels and four rinses according to European standards (EN 1500). No gel met the EN 1500 requirements within 30 s of application, whereas all hand rinses did. The tested hand gels should be considered a retrograde step for hand hygiene because the application time in clinical practice is often shorter than 30 s; they should not replace alcohol-based liquid hand disinfectants currently used in hospitals or be implemented as first choice agents.
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