With hand hygiene high on the agenda on World Hand Hygiene Day, the focus is on solutions that combine enhanced efficacy with proven skin care for hand disinfection.
Desderman care, from schülke contains 89.1g ethanol per 100ml and is effective against many bacteria and viruses (including coronaviruses) in 15 seconds. Available as a ready to use gel and a liquid, desderman Care can be used for hygienic and surgical hand disinfection (contact times of 30 seconds and 90 seconds respectively). Pro-panthenol and vitamin E are added to help protect the skin.
Desderman care meets the stringent gold standard tests for efficacy as specified by the European Norms (EN), with broad spectrum virucidal efficacy conforming to EN14476, bactericidal to EN13727, hygienic hand disinfection to EN1500 and surgical hand disinfection to EN12791. A study comparing a certified alcohol based hand rub (ABHR) with a non-certified one showed the bacterial burden was only reduced by 6-fold from baseline using the non-certified product compared to almost 50-fold from baseline with the certified one.1
The type and concentration of alcohol in hand sanitisers has an impact on efficacy. Ethanol appears to be the most effective alcohol against viruses2 and handrubs with 85% ethanol content are significantly better at reducing bacterial populations than those with a lower ethanol content.2 Click here for more information.
References
- Babulek R et al, Hand hygiene: evaluation of three disinfectant hand sanitizers in a community setting, PLoS One. 2014 Nov 7;9(11)
- Gold NA, Mirza TM, Avva U. Alcohol Sanitizer. [Updated 2021 Nov 4]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK513254/?report=classic
