The purpose of this study was to compare the hand disinfection effect of waterless alcohol gel hand washing agent with that of soap and water, 4% chlorhexidine gluconate, and 10% povidone-iodine. Hands of fourty subjects were artificially contaminated
with Acinetobacter baumannii 5㎖ and randomly distributed to each hand washing methods. Samples were collected from gloved hand by glove juice sampling procedure. Mean log reduction after hand washing were compared with baseline values. Number of
microorganisms were converted to log and tested by ANOVA in SPSSWIN 10.0.
Mean log reduction of soap and water, alcohol gel, 4% chlorhexidine gluconate, 10% povidone-iodine were 2.76±0.62, 2.97±0.56, 4.66±1.70, 4.60±0.91, respectively. The bactericidal effect of alcohol gel was similar to that of soap and water, but the
effect was much less than chlorhexidine gluconate and povidone-iodine(p<0.001).
In terms of microorganism reduction, the efficacy of waterless alcohol gel was almost the same as soap and water hand washing. Further evaluation of the bactericidal effect of waterless alcohol gel is needed because waterless alcohol gel is simple,
convenient, and non-irritating hand washing agent and also very effective in busy hospital environment.
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