Are Hand Sanitizers Any Less Effective than Traditional sanitizing Ingredients?

 

Hand sanitizer is either a solution powder or liquid usually used to reduce potentially infective agents on the infected hands. In most settings hand washing using hot water and soap is usually preferred over hand sanitizing soap and liquid. It is used before, during, and after contact with a potentially contaminated object or surface.

Although there is no FDA approved sanitizing agent for human, most products on the market contain various types of chemicals. Many are antibacterial, but others are antimicrobial or deodorant agents. Some are for use in skin irritations, and others work as hand sanitizers. Most are made from various alcohols, fatty acids, glycerin, and petroleum-based ingredients, including triclosan, benzyl alcohol, and disulphide ester. Some agents do not contain alcohols or antiseptics and do not list the specific ingredients.

Triclosan and disulphide ester are antimicrobial agents but have not been proven effective in fighting the virus and bacteria, including the recently identified human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus that causes genital warts. Thus, while hand washing with soap and warm water is recommended, it is not always guaranteed to be effective. For these reasons, a sanitizer that is applied more frequently may be less effective than one that is applied only occasionally.

The best way to determine how a sanitizer may be beneficial in protecting your health is to contact a physician. Most commonly, physicians recommend hand-washing with a medicated hand rub because it is thought that this is the safest method. However, hand-rubbing is only one of the many ways that bacteria can enter your body. Indeed, many people who perform different tasks at work or play will be in contact with some amount of bacteria. For example, healthcare workers who assist in the treatment of sick patients may transfer disease-causing bacteria from one patient to another. Likewise, people who play sports may become infected with a virus that can cause serious illness or even death.

To better understand how alcohol hand sanitizers compare to other sanitizing methods, you might want to look at the FDA's website. Here, you will find information about the organization's safety guidelines for using sanitizing products. Although the agency is not promoting hand washing, it does encourage the use of products that contain low levels of alcohol and disulfides. Among these substances are some of the antimicrobial agents that are found in some alcohol hand sanitizers.

These types of agents are thought to reduce the growth of bacteria and, therefore, reduce the risk of infections. However, they are thought to produce fewer results when it comes to protecting the skin. Thus, although some people do find them to be less effective, they might still be worth trying out if they do not want to get sick. At least with the help of alcohol concentrations used in rubbing alcohols, hand sanitizer that have no other antimicrobial activity will have less harmful effects on your health than traditional sanitizing agents.