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Effectiveness of Hand-Cleansing Agents for Removing Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus From Contaminated Hands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Marcio Guilhermetti ,
Silvio Evandro Daniel Hernandes ,
Yoshiaki Fukushigue ,
Lourdes Botelho Garcia  and
Celso Luíz Cardoso
Marcio Guilhermetti
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Analyses, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Silvio Evandro Daniel Hernandes
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Yoshiaki Fukushigue
Affiliation:
Department of Statistics, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Lourdes Botelho Garcia
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Analyses, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Celso Luíz Cardoso*
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Analyses, State University of Maringá, Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
*
Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Clinical Analyses, State University of Maringá, 5790 Colombo Ave, 87020-900 Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
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Abstract

Objective:

The effectiveness of hand-cleansing agents in removing a hospital strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from artificially contaminated hands of five volunteers was studied.

Design:

The products used were plain liquid soap, ethyl alcohol 70% (by weight), 10% povidone-iodine liquid soap (PVP-I), and chlorhexidine gluconate (4%) detergent. The experiments were performed using a Latin square statistical design, with two 5×4 randomized blocks. The removal rates of S aureus cells from contaminated fingertips were estimated by analysis of variance, the response variable being the log10 reduction factor (RF), ie, log10 of the initial counts minus log10 of the final counts. In the first and second blocks, the fingertips of the volunteers were contaminated in mean with 3.76 log10 colony-forming units ([CFU] light-contamination hand) and 6.82 log10 CFU (heavy-contamination hand), respectively.

Results:

In the first block, there were significant differences between treatments (P<.05). The 10% PVP-I (RF, 3.76) and 70% ethyl alcohol (RF, 3.51) had significantly higher removal rates than plain liquid soap (RF, 1.96) and 4% chlorhexidine (RF, 1.91). In the second block, 10% PVP-I (RF, 4.39) and 70% ethyl alcohol (RF, 3.27) also were significantly more effective than plain liquid soap (RF, 1.77) and 4% chlorhexidine (RF, 1.37; P<.05). Plain liquid soap was significantly more effective than chlorhexidine (4%) detergent.

Conclusions:

The results suggest that 10% PVP-I and 70% ethyl alcohol may be the most effective hand-cleansing agents for removing methicillin-resistant S aureus strain from either lightly or heavily contaminated hands.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , February 2001 , pp. 105 - 108
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2001

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