title: Comparative assessment of antimicrobial efficacy of different hand sanitizers: Anin vitrostudy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of four different hand sanitizers againstStaphylococcus aureus,Staphylococcus epidermidis,Pseudomonas aeruginosa,Escherichia coli, andEnterococcus faecalisas well as to assess and compare the antimicrobial effectiveness among four different hand sanitizers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study is anin vitrostudy to evaluate antimicrobial efficacy of Dettol, Lifebuoy, PureHands, and Sterillium hand sanitizers against clinical isolates of the aforementioned test organisms. The well variant of agar disk diffusion test using Mueller-Hinton agar was used for evaluating the antimicrobial efficacy of hand sanitizers. McFarland 0.5 turbidity standard was taken as reference to adjust the turbidity of bacterial suspensions. Fifty microliters of the hand sanitizer was introduced into each of the 4 wells while the 5thwell incorporated with sterile water served as a control. This was done for all the test organisms and plates were incubated in an incubator for 24 h at 37΀C. After incubation, antimicrobial effectiveness was determined using digital caliper (mm) by measuring the zone of inhibition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean diameters of zones of inhibition (in mm) observed in Group A (Sterillium), Group B (PureHands), Group C (Lifebuoy), and Group D (Dettol) were 22 ± 6, 7.5 ± 0.5, 9.5 ± 1.5, and 8 ± 1, respectively. Maximum inhibition was found with Group A against all the tested organisms. Data were statistically analyzed using analysis of variance, followed bypost hoctest for group-wise comparisons. The difference in the values of different sanitizers was statistically significant atP< 0.001.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sterillium was the most effective hand sanitizer to maintain the hand hygiene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Vardhaman Mulchand
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Jain
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Gundabaktha Nagappa
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Karibasappa
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Arun Suresh
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Dodamani
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Vishwakarma K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Prashanth
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health Dentistry, ACPM Dental College, Dhule, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Gaurao Vasant
authors.initials: GV
authors.lastname: Mali
keywords: Anti infective agent; hand sanitizers; hygiene; organisms; test