On Sun, 17 Jan 1999, phil wrote:
> You should have a reason why you're using such materials, including the
> knowledge of effiacy against your target bugs. Chlorhexidine is not
> good against all these bugs and has even been associated with infection
> transmission of pseudomonads growing in the stuff.
Hi all,
The message from Phil hits the nail on the head. Most "antimicrobial"
additives in handwashing soaps are ineffective; in fact I am not aware of
any additive which has a satisfactory, experimentally verified, killing
curve for the relevant microorganisms. They can even be dangerous by
creating a false awareness of having "eliminated" microbes. Why not use
hand disinfection, e.g., with commercially available alcoholic hand
disinfection agents? They have been proven effective, in many
experiments, against most of the relevant bacteria, viruses and fungi.
They kill most microorganisms in 5 (!) logarithmic steps over a period of
30 seconds (!) and have moisturizing additives to prevent hands from
drying. A good chapter where these issues are discussed can be found in
Rotter, M.L. Hand washing, hand disinfection, and skin disinfection. In:
Wenzel, R.P. Prevention and control of nosocomial infections. 3rd edition,
Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore.
Cheers, Matthias
Matthias Maiwald, MD
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Stanford University School of Medicine
E-MAIL: maiwald at cmgm.stanford.edu
>>abeerguy at postoffice2.bellatlantic.net wrote:
> >
> > Try ChlorHexadine.... We use it in an critical care area were we are
> > continously exposed to TB.... MRSA....VRE...and Ps.aurginosa and if its good
> > for these *critters* it should be good for what you need it for.... It just
> > dries your hands out and lotion is the best remedy.
> >
> > Yersinia wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Bob,
> > >
> > > You wrote:
> > >
> > > < have a problem that I need help with. The handwashing soap at my
> > > facility
> > > contains dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides and Ethyl benzyl ammonium
> > > chloride
> > > at 5% each. Its my understanding that these are irritants. If so, are
> > > they
> > > safe to apply to the hands over an extended period of time. If anyone
> > > has any
> > > knowledge about this, please share with me.
> > >
> > > Also, I was told that this soap is intended for cleaning walls, doors,
> > > floors, and items of that nature. >
> > >
> > > This sounds like a preparation we use at our lab, called Arrive - but we
> > > use it to disinfect our benches!!
> > >
> > > Infectionately,
> > > Yersinia.
> > >
> > > _________________________________________
> > > "A good microbiologist must always B. cereus."
>>>
