According to a report in the January issue of the Harvard Health Letter, regular soap and water is just as effective as hand sanitizers and antibacterial soap when used correctly and frequently.
Past studies have revealed that 15 seconds of hand washing with regular soap and water eliminates 90 percent of bacteria, said Harvard Health Letter editor Dr. Anthony Komaroff, but he noted that a large number of people failed to wash their hands regularly and dry them properly. The report stated that 90 percent of respondents to a telephone survey said they would wash their hands after using a public restroom, but researchers observed only 75 percent of men and 90 percent of women washed their hands before leaving a public bathroom in a real-world study.

Komaroff did not discount the usefulness of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, saying that they were useful, but most people didn't use enough of the gels to be effective. The best practice with hand sanitizers is to use several squirts and make sure to get not only the palms of the hands, but also the backs of the fingers and hand, he said.

However, not all health experts are in favor of antibacterial products and antibacterial hand soap in particular. Health advocate Mike Adams has noted in past NewsTarget articles that the ingredients of such products are often highly toxic, and seep into the skin and bloodstream of consumers through repeated use. If that wasn't bad enough, Adams also reports that harmful chemicals do more damage after they circle the drain, making their way into the groundwater to poison nature and re-poison people. Regular hand soap is usually made from fats and oils, and is therefore considered significantly less harmful to both consumers and the environment.




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Scientists have warned that expensive anti-bacterial washes are no better at cleaning hands than ordinary soap and they may actually encourage superbugs. Anti-bacterial soap containing triclosan has no more effect in preventing infectious illness than standard plain soap. Anti-bacterial soaps at formulations sold to the public do not remove any more bacteria from the hands when washing than plain soap. Also the researchers say that because of the way the main active ingredient, triclosan in many antibacterial soaps, reacts in the cells it may cause some bacteria to become resistant to commonly used drugs such as amoxicillin,. These changes have not been detected at the population level, but e-coli bacteria bugs adapted in lab experiments showed resistance when exposed to as much as 0.1 percent triclosan soap. "What we are saying is that these e-coli could survive in the concentrations that we use in our (consumer formulated) antibacterial soaps," reported Allison Aiello of the University of Michigan School of Public Health. "What it means for consumers is that we need to be aware of what's in the products. The soaps containing triclosan used in the community setting are no more effective than plain soap at preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as reducing bacteria on the hands."

The study, "Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky" appears in the August edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The team looked at 27 studies conducted between 1980 and 2006, and found that soaps containing triclosan within the range of concentrations commonly used in the community setting (0.1 to 0.45 percent) were no more effective than plain soaps. Triclosan is used in higher concentrations in hospitals and other clinical settings, and may be more effective at reducing illness and bacteria.

Triclosan works by targeting a biochemical pathway in the bacteria that allows the bacteria to keep its cell wall intact. Because of the way triclosan kills the bacteria, mutations can happen at the targeted site. Dr Aiello says a mutation could mean that the triclosan can no longer get to the target site to kill the bacteria because the bacteria and the pathway have changed form.

The analysis concludes that government regulators should evaluate antibacterial product claims and advertising, and further studies are encouraged. Other antiseptic products on the market contain different active ingredients, such as the alcohol in hand sanitizers or the bleach in some antibacterial household cleaners. Aiello's team did not study those products and those ingredients are not at issue.


Source: Science News Daily 16-08-07



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