Impact of an Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizer

Intervention on the Spread of Viruses in

Homes

Introduction :
In this difficult time, it is very important to explain how fast
the virus spreads throughout the household. On this occasion,
the author in detail wanted to explain how important hand
hygiene is in every household. The author's purpose in
creating this article and conducting this research was to
determine the movement of the virus throughout the
household and the effect of alcohol-based hand sanitizer on
reducing the movement and exposure of the virus to
household members. The author conducted this research by
testing a household that has children. To aid his research, he
also uses coliphage markers and DNA viruses to study the
spread of viruses in the indoor environment.
Summary :
Good hand hygiene involving hand washing or the use of
alcohol-based hand sanitizers has been shown to reduce the
risk of infection from respiratory and enteric viruses. To test
the truth of this article, this writer is also a researcher so that
this article is accepted in the general public. He uses many
methods to test the truth of the articles he made. The first
thing to do is to use bacteriophage which is tested with a
double layer coating technique with E.coli as the host. Then
the experimental protocol is performed. At this stage, basic
demographic data for all households such as the number of
people living at home, age, sex, number and type of pets are
important to obtain. The most important method used in this
study is the statistical method. Bacteriophage concentration
was transformed into log base 10 to normalize the data.
Geometric data is calculated to control and intervene on both
hands and fomites. Reduction in log averages due to
interventions is calculated based on geometric averages. The
results obtained from this study were that the virus was
detected in the hands of every household member, inoculated
or not inoculated, and in almost every fomite in the control
group. Reduction of viruses in the hands and fomites by using
alcohol-based hand sanitizers statistically and significantly. In
addition, there was a decrease in the total number of sites
contaminated from control to intervention.
Evaluation :
In this study, successfully proved that the use of alcohol-based
hand sanitizers is very effective to deactivate more than
99.99% of the virus when applied to contaminated hands. But
in this study there is no explanation on how to use alcohol-
based hand sanitizers that are safe and what percentage of
alkoho is used in alcohol-based hand sanitizers. This study also
has not been able to analyze the impact of the use of alcohol-
based hand sanitizers in reducing the concentration of viruses
in the hands and fomites where various contamination events
occur.
Conclusion :
The results of this study indicate that the presence of a virus
in the hands of just one person can cause contamination on
almost all surfaces of the formite tested in 8 hours. The use of
alcohol-based hand sanitizers once and three times a day is
found to reduce the concentration of the virus in both hands
and usually touch fomites 99% at home. In addition, when
used three times a day, the virus can no longer be detected in
about half of the formites, indicating that the use of alcohol-
based hand sanitizers is completely able to stop the transfer
of the virus to the surface. It is also hoped that future research
should be able to evaluate the impact of using alcohol-based
hand sanitizers in reducing viral concentrations in the hands
and fomites where various events of contamination occur.
References :
Bloomfield, S. F., Aiello, A. E., Cookson, B., O'Boyle, C., & Larson, E. L. (2007). The effectiveness
of hand hygiene procedures in reducing the risks of infections in home and community settings
including handwashing and alcohol-based hand sanitizers. American journal of infection
control, 35(10), S27-S64.

Sakamoto, F., Yamada, H., Suzuki, C., Sugiura, H., & Tokuda, Y. (2010). Increased use of alcohol-
based hand sanitizers and successful eradication of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
from a neonatal intensive care unit: a multivariate time series analysis. American journal of infection

Miller, M. A., Rosin, A., Levsky, M. E., Patel, M. M., Gregory, T. J., & Crystal, C. S. (2006). Does the
clinical use of ethanol-based hand sanitizer elevate blood alcohol levels? A prospective study. The
American journal of emergency medicine, 24(7), 815-817.control, 38(7), 529-534.

Hilburn, J., Hammond, B. S., Fendler, E. J., & Groziak, P. A. (2003). Use of alcohol hand sanitizer
as an infection control strategy in an acute care facility. American journal of infection control, 31(2),

Larson, E. L., Cohen, B., & Baxter, K. A. (2012). Analysis of alcohol-based hand sanitizer delivery
systems: efficacy of foam, gel, and wipes against influenza A (H1N1) virus on hands. American
journal of infection control, 40(9), 806-809.109-116.