Thursday, May 28, 2009

Washing with plain water better than hand sanitizers, say researchers

A team of researchers from Emory University and North Carolina State University conducted a study to test whether or not popular antibacterial soaps and alcohol-based hand sanitizers are as effective against germs that cause "stomach flu," i.e. gastrointestinal illnesses characterized by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.

Guess what? They found that washing in plain water removed an average of 96% of the norovirus placed on the fingers of subjects, while using an antibacterial liquid soap with water removed about 88% and the alcohol-based sanitizer removed only about 46% of the virus from the volunteers' fingers.

I was skeptical too, so here's the link to the American Society for Microbiology so you can read it yourself!

Hmmm...I'm using the antibacterial stuff. Maybe plain old soap works just as well or better?

1 comment:

Thud said...

Hmmm...interesting,with new baby in the house I'm washing like crazy.