Examination of the Disinfection Activity of Quick-drying Rubbing-type Antiseptics for Daily Use

Hand hygiene is important as a strategy to prevent hospital infection. In particular, alcohol-containing antiseptic hand rubs (alcohol-based hand rubs) are currently essential in clinical practice due to their simplicity and potent antiseptic effects. In this study, we compared the antiseptic and prolonged effects of representative rubbing-type antiseptics routinely employed in clinical practice, such as 0.2 w/v% benzalkonium chloride alcohol preparation, 0.5 w/v% quick-drying povidone-iodine alcohol preparation, and 0.2/0.5 w/v% quick-drying chlorhexidine gluconate alcohol preparations, applied in accordance with the glove juice method at various volumes. The subjects were female pharmacy students, who operated nozzle-type containers containing these rubbing-type antiseptics to collect typical samples by pushing the nozzle, as usually used by pharmacy students for hand/finger antisepsis, and the delivered volume was measured. The bacterial reduction rate after 1, 2, or 3 mL of each preparation was rubbed into the hands/fingers 3 times. All preparations exhibited favorable antiseptic effects when the sample was 2 mL or more. In addition, the antiseptic effects persisted for 4 hours when using 2 mL of preparation 3 times. Usually, the collected volumes per push of preparations containing 0.2 w/v% benzalkonium chloride and 0.5 w/v% chlorhexidine gluconate were approximately 2 mL. However, the volumes of preparations containing 0.5 w/v% povidone-iodine and 0.2 w/v% chlorhexidine gluconate were less than 2 mL. To achieve effective hand/finger antisepsis, the volumes of antiseptics applied must be considered.