Antibacterial assessment of commercially available hand sanitizers in Pakistan by EN-1500.

BACKGROUND

The effectiveness of hand sanitizers marketed to the general population is essential for infection prevention and control. Main theme of the study was that whether the commercially available hand sanitizers meet the WHO recommended standards in terms of efficacy? Current study aims to investigate the efficacy of ten commercially available hand sanitizers.

METHODS

The methodology was based on European Standard EN-1500. Following the artificial contamination of hands, pre and post samples were obtained to determine the log reduction values for each sanitizer.

RESULTS

The results showed that out of ten only one sanitizer showed highest log reduction which was comparable to the reference product. Product B was most efficient in sanitization of hands with mean log reduction of 6.00 ± 0.15. The lowest sanitization efficacy was recorded for product F with mean log reduction of 2.40 ± 0.51, however the reference product 2-propanol result in mean log reduction of 6.0 ± 0.00. The products used in this study show a statistical significant results (p value: < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

It is concluded that only one product showed active sanitizer efficacy. This study provides an important insight for manufacturing company and authorizing authorities to assess the efficacy of hand sanitizer. Hand sanitization is one approach to stop the spread of diseases carried on by harmful bacteria inhabiting our hands. Apart from the manufacturing strategies, ensuring proper use and quantity of hand sanitizers is very important.