Summary
The World Health Organization recommends the use of hand rubs with ‘sustained activity’
for surgical hand preparation. This review aims to verify whether any of the alcohol-based
hand rubs containing non-volatile ‘active ingredients’ such as chlorhexidine digluconate
(CHG), mecetronium ethylsulphate (MES), or ortho-phenylphenol (OPP) provides such
sustained efficacy for surgical hand disinfection. Literature was searched to find
studies according to EN 12791. Published data sets were analysed to verify whether
any of the formulations has a superior efficacy (P<0.01) after 3h in comparison to the reference procedure. Formulations with 0.5 and 1% CHG in 70%
iso-propanol or 61% ethanol were not superior after 3h. Formulations with 0.2% MES in 45% iso-propanol and 30% n-propanol were also not
superior when applied for 1min (one data set), 1.5min as currently recommended for use (14 data sets), and 2min (one data set). When applied for 3min the formulations were superior in three out of seven data sets. The hand rub with
0.1% OPP in 78.2% ethanol was also not superior to the reference treatment when applied
as recommended for 1.5min. It appears reasonable and responsible to limit the dermal exposure and environmental
input to biocidal agents with a clear benefit such as the alcohols. In analogy to
avoiding dyes and fragrances in hand rubs, formulations containing ‘active’ substances
without a clear benefit but with potential risks should be avoided when alternative
formulations with the same level of antimicrobial activity, dermal tolerance, and
user acceptability are available.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 12, 2016
Accepted:
November 4,
2016
Received:
September 8,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 The Healthcare Infection Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
