Comparative Effectiveness of Hand Sanitizers and Hand Washes Against Hand Germs

Research Question: The comparative effectiveness of local hand sanitizers and hand washes whilst tackling hand germicide. 

H0: Hand washes and hand sanitizers are not effective against hand germs 

H1: I hypothesize that hand sanitizers will work best to destroy hand germs. This is because most hand sanitizers contain alcohol that goes through a process called, “denaturation”  when it makes contain with germs. Simply, “denaturation” comprises of the alcohol molecules creating bonds with the fat coating surrounding the virus or bacteria. This breaks down the constituents of the germs and they become exposed. Therefore, it can be said that hand sanitizers helps eliminate the cell membrane of bacteria and viruses. 

Independent: liquid hand soap and alcohol hand sanitizers

Dependent: hand germs 

Controlled: temperature of incubator (should be less than 37 degrees), media plates(sheep blood agar as it is an enriched media) hand wash (CDC hand washing technique) / hand sanitizer technique ( CDC hand sanitizer technique) and amount of hand wash/hand sanitizer used (one gram). 

Hand hygiene is significant because it aids in decreasing colonization and disease. This will help eliminate the transference of microorganisms from one human to the other. Following hygiene properly and effectively helps to reduce the risk of gastroenteric and respiratory diseases. 

Hand hygiene comprises the cleaning of your hands using hand wash and water , anti-septic hand washes,  alcohol based hand sanitizers and surgical hand antiseptics. The usage of alcohol based hand sanitizers are increasing compared to hand washes  because of how handy they are. Moreover, the expansion of their availability and their proven effectiveness are also reasons why people have started to resort to them.

Moreover, its great coverage against almost all pathogens and lack of resistance development are causes why hand sanitizers have become so popular. Hand sanitizers  can be used by everyone and anyone, including hospitals, clinics , nursing homes and the community in general. 

Overall, alcohols are said to be safer than detergents. Even though the absolute contraindication of alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS) is limited to severe allergic reactions (such as anaphylaxis to aliphatic alcohols), there are a few concerns to its use. In spite of the adding of emollients and moisturizers in the modern method of preparation, ABHS is allocated with numerous skin reactions. Contact irritant dermatitis can be mild or severe and can show up up as dryness, itching and skin cracking. Allergic contact dermatitis , also varies from mild to severe symptoms and at times can  be accompanied by a respiratory distress. Some doctors have proven that contact urticaria syndrome is also caused because of alcohol sanitizer use. It appears as swelling , redness, burning sensation and itching. Research proves that ethanol is less irritating than n-propanol or isopropanol.     

Hypothesis

Step 1: Take 500 ml distilled water in a measuring cylinder and bring it to a boil on a tripod stand attached to a bunsen burner 

Step 2: Measure 14 grams of agar powder by putting a cutting out a round filter paper that covers the surface of the electric balance. Make sure the balance is at zero when putting the filter paper and once the filter paper is placed, zero the balance scale again or subtract the final weight the weight of the filter paper . 

Step 3: Hold the filter paper and join the ends of it to make an enclosed shape for easing pouring into the boiling water. Pour the powder slowly into the water, stirring constantly. 

Step 4: Once all the powder has been added, keep stirring after every 5 minutes until the powder has dissolved. 

Step 5: Take out 17 petri dishes and start to warm them over the blue flame of a bunsen burner, hold the petri dishes with a tong to warm them. Warm each for 2-5 minutes.  For this step, you’ll especially need gloves . 

Step 6: After they have been warmed, pour the hot mixture of agar nutrient into the petri dishes. 

Step 7: Once poured, wait 3-4 hours for the powder to turn into solid form. 

Step 8: After the wait, label the petri dishes with masking tape , for example in the following form: Hand wash’s/Hand sanitizer’s name  1, Hand wash’s/Hand sanitizer’s name 2 , Hand wash’s/Hand sanitizer’s name 3 and before the use of hand hygiene 1, before the use of hand hygiene 2, before the use of hand hygiene 3. Attach the masking tape to one side of the petri dishes. 

Step 9: Turn the fire on , and place your 4 fingers directly on the petri dish. Every day I did 3 hand cultures at 8 am, 12 pm and 4 pm. At 8 am ( I first hand cultured before wash and then after and did the same thing for 12 pm and 4 pm,using one gram of hand sanitizer and hand wash. )

Step 10: Quickly close the petri dish and seal it with clear tape. Do this with all the petri dishes. 

Step 11: Once done, clean the incubator with water and soap and turn the incubator to 180 Celsius to kill any possible germs placed the petri dishes in an incubator and turn the temperature on to 34-35 degrees Celsius. Leave the plates in the incubator for 48 hours and then come to check the results.