[Effectiveness of alcoholic hand disinfectants against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus]

In order to determine the efficacy of hand disinfectants based on alcohol against three MRSA strains and 3 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus strains (MSSA), 1-propanol (60%) as well as Sterillium and Spitaderm were investigated in the quantitative suspension test at various dilutions and reactions times (15, 30 and 60s). All undiluted disinfectants revealed reduction factors > 6 against MRSA and MSSA after 30s. Diluted disinfectants (50%) were significantly less effective against MRSA at short reaction times (15 s) (p < 0.05). Sterillium in a dilution of 50% did not reach 5 reduction factors against either MRSA or MSSA after 30 s. The impact of an appropriate use of hand disinfectants in order to break chains of infections with MRSA is obvious.