Biomedical Science and Research Journals | Alcohol Gels: Causing More Harm Than We Thought



Several pieces of a significantly important research have now come together to present a very different picture of the outcomes we can expect from the current doctrine on hand hygiene in our healthcare facilities. The new evidence, (one piece of which was produced by the BBC TV series “Twinsitutue”), shows beyond any doubt that alcohol gels have the capacity to not only increase the number of bacteria on skin, but to significantly change the species of bacteria that colonise the skin. Further, the species that is shown to replace the natural skin commensals, is a bacillus, this therefore carries an increase risk due to it’s potential for significantly more harm. When alcohol is applied to the skin on hands or the abdomen, two previous research papers, both demonstrate a significant increase in bacterial numbers over time on the hands, and another paper, showed similar results on the abdominal skin prior to surgery.

The conclusions of all three papers, was that based on bacterial numbers alone, alcohol needed to be combined with another antimicrobial to be of value over time when compared to other methods of skin sanitation. One of the papers looked at the potential to use alcohol after a persistent SiQuat had been used, showing improved results over alcohol alone. Unfortunately, in each of these papers, the authors were not able to look at the species of bacteria before and after the alcohol gel had been used. The BBC documentary programme “Twinsitutue”, although scientifically inert, was able to demonstrate the change in bacterial species, to the much more harmful Bacillus species, which adds a new and worrying dimension to the picture of what is happening to skin and surface contamination in our healthcare institutions.


To view fulltext of article:https://biomedgrid.com/fulltext/volume1/alcohol-gels-causing-more-harm-than-we-thought.000557.php

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