Non-irritant handwash helps in war against germs

Halting the spread of hospital infections could be as easy as introducing hospital staff to a non-irritant, antiseptic hand wash, according to new research reported at the British Pharmaceutical Conference in Manchester held in September.

Research shows that healthcare workers only wash their hands 40% of the time they actually should to maintain hygiene. Researchers believe that this is because commonly used hand-washing products contain alcohols, preservatives, colouring agents, fragrances or disinfectants that irritate the skin, causing dermatitis.

One solution is to introduce lotions that are usually used for the treatment of dry skin conditions. But, are these dry-skin lotions effective in combating the spread of infection?

MedPharm tested the effectiveness of Dermol 500 Lotion, usually used in the management of dry skin conditions, especially atopic dermatitis, to see if it would kill micro-organisms that cause infections in hospitals.

Volunteers had their hands contaminated with the micro-organism E.coli and then washed their hands with Dermol 500 Lotion. The hand wash was found to be effective at removing E.coli after one wash.

Taking these results, the research team then looked at published hand disinfection studies and found that Dermol 500 Lotion achieved better removal of bacteria from the hands than most other products published in the literature. The only products that they found to be comparable were pre-operative surgical scrubs, or products with high concentrations of alcohol and/or disinfectants.

Professor Marc Brown, chair in pharmaceutics at the University of Hertfordshire, who led the team that carried out the research, said: "It is known that regular hand washing between procedures and between patients reduces the risk of hospital-acquired infections. But dermatitis, caused by hand-wash products, is currently deterring staff from carrying out the simple procedure of washing their hands regularly."

The hands of 10 volunteers were washed in 70ml of ethanol and dried. Then the left hands of the volunteers were contaminated with E coli. Hands were rubbed together for 20 seconds and air-dried for 100 seconds. 3ml of Dermol 500 lotion was applied to the cupped hands and the opposing hands rubbed together for one minute. The hands were then rinsed under 500ml sterile Ringer solution.

Organisms were recovered (i) after hand washing with ethanol (negative control), (ii) after application of E coli with no treatment applied (positive control) and (iii) after application of E coli followed by hand washing with Dermol 500 Lotion.

The active ingredients incorporated in Dermol 500 are chlorhexidine hydrochloride 0.1%, benzalkonium chloride 0.1%, liquid paraffin 2.5% and isopropyl myristate 2.5%. This product also contains cetostearyl alcohol, cetomacrogol 1000, phenoxyethanol and water.