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. 2016 Sep;13(5):424-431.
doi: 10.4103/1735-3327.192283.

Comparative assessment of antimicrobial efficacy of different hand sanitizers: An in vitro study

Vardhaman Mulchand Jain  1 , Gundabaktha Nagappa Karibasappa  1 , Arun Suresh Dodamani  1 , Vishwakarma K Prashanth  1 , Gaurao Vasant Mali  1
Affiliations

Comparative assessment of antimicrobial efficacy of different hand sanitizers: An in vitro study

Vardhaman Mulchand Jain et al. Dent Res J (Isfahan). 2016 Sep.

Abstract

Background: To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of four different hand sanitizers against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus faecalis as well as to assess and compare the antimicrobial effectiveness among four different hand sanitizers.

Materials and methods: The present study is an in vitro study to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy of Dettol, Lifebuoy, PureHands, and Sterillium hand sanitizers against clinical isolates of the aforementioned test organisms. The well variant of agar disk diffusion test using Mueller-Hinton agar was used for evaluating the antimicrobial efficacy of hand sanitizers. McFarland 0.5 turbidity standard was taken as reference to adjust the turbidity of bacterial suspensions. Fifty microliters of the hand sanitizer was introduced into each of the 4 wells while the 5th well incorporated with sterile water served as a control. This was done for all the test organisms and plates were incubated in an incubator for 24 h at 37΀C. After incubation, antimicrobial effectiveness was determined using digital caliper (mm) by measuring the zone of inhibition.

Results: The mean diameters of zones of inhibition (in mm) observed in Group A (Sterillium), Group B (PureHands), Group C (Lifebuoy), and Group D (Dettol) were 22 ± 6, 7.5 ± 0.5, 9.5 ± 1.5, and 8 ± 1, respectively. Maximum inhibition was found with Group A against all the tested organisms. Data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance, followed by post hoc test for group-wise comparisons. The difference in the values of different sanitizers was statistically significant at P < 0.001.

Conclusion: Sterillium was the most effective hand sanitizer to maintain the hand hygiene.

Keywords: Anti infective agent; hand sanitizers; hygiene; organisms; test.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Different hand sanitizers used in the study.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Sterilized Mueller-Hinton agar plates inoculated with standardized test organisms.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Four equally spaced holes in the agar plate with the 5th hole in the center.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Fifty microliters of the hand sanitizer used was introduced into each of the 4 wells and central well filled with an equal volume of sterile water.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Analysis of zone of inhibition to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy of different hand sanitizers. Labelling on the side of respective zone of inhibition as A, B, C, D etc.
Graph 1
Graph 1
Zone of inhibition (in mm) measured at the end of 24 h of different hand sanitizers against all the test organisms.
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