Miller Michael A, Rosin Alex, Levsky Marc E, Patel Manish M, Gregory Timothy J D, Crystal Chad S
Department of Emergency Medicine, C.R. Darnall Army Medical Center, Hood, TX 76544, USA.
Am J Emerg Med. 2006 Nov;24(7):815-7. doi: 10.1016/j.ajem.2006.05.006.
Ethanol-based hand sanitizers (EBHSs) are used in most health care facilities in the United States. Infection control personnel advocate the use of generous quantities of EBHS before and after contact with patients. Although it is assumed that little systemic absorption of ethanol occurs during EBHS use, many alcohols are absorbed to varying degrees via the transdermal route. Ethanol intoxication by employees in the medical workplace is a potentially serious finding, and it is of forensic and medical-legal importance to elucidate the effects of frequent use of EBHS upon serum blood ethanol levels (BELs). To investigate the effect of frequent use of EBHS upon serum blood ethanol concentrations, we prospectively studied 5 volunteers undergoing frequent application of EBHS.
Enrolled subjects applied 5 mL of the product (62% denatured ethyl alcohol manufactured by Kimberley-Clark, Roswell, GA) to both hands and rubbed until dry. This activity was repeated 50 times over 4 hours. Participants had their blood drawn before as well as after completing the study. Each participant was without alcohol exposure during the 12 hours preceding the study.
Five volunteers were enrolled. All had an initial blood ethanol level of less than 5 mg/dL. All 5 participants completed the 4-hour study. There were no noted adverse reactions during the study. Blood ethanol level upon completion of the 50 applications of EBHS was less than 5 mg/dL in all 5 study participants.
The results of this study demonstrate that use of ethanol-based hand sanitizers, when frequently used in accordance with labeling, do not raise serum blood ethanol levels.
乙醇基洗手液（EBHSs）在美国的大多数医疗机构中都有使用。感染控制人员提倡在接触患者前后大量使用EBHSs。尽管人们认为在使用EBHSs期间乙醇很少被全身吸收，但许多酒精会通过透皮途径被不同程度地吸收。医疗工作场所员工的乙醇中毒是一个潜在的严重问题，阐明频繁使用EBHSs对血清血乙醇水平（BELs）的影响具有法医学和医疗法律意义。为了研究频繁使用EBHSs对血清血乙醇浓度的影响，我们对5名频繁使用EBHSs的志愿者进行了前瞻性研究。
入选的受试者将5毫升产品（由佐治亚州罗斯韦尔的金佰利公司生产的62%变性乙醇）涂在双手上并揉搓至干。该活动在4小时内重复50次。参与者在完成研究前后均进行了血液抽取。每位参与者在研究前的12小时内未接触酒精。
招募了5名志愿者。所有人的初始血乙醇水平均低于5毫克/分升。所有5名参与者均完成了4小时的研究。研究期间未观察到不良反应。在所有5名研究参与者中，完成50次EBHSs涂抹后的血乙醇水平均低于5毫克/分升。
本研究结果表明，按照标签说明频繁使用乙醇基洗手液不会提高血清血乙醇水平。
