Coronavirus versus 70% Alcohol: Comments and Some Fundamental Definitions

Abstract The new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is a global problem that is having severe impacts on health systems worldwide. One particular characteristic of this virus is its high transmission rate, which has led to a high demand for personal care materials such as masks, gloves, and alcohol for asepsis. Seventy percent is the ideal concentration for the ethanol used in hand sanitizers; however, this concentration can be expressed in different ways, and, consequently, the different solutions will have different antiseptic activity. In this manuscript we comment on some characteristics of alcohol-based preparations and the different ways of expressing the concentrations.

Lavado en seco y carga bacteriana en manos de personal hospitalario / Dry cleaning and bacterial load in the hands of hospital staff

Introducción: numerosos estudios han confirmado que el lavado de manos en seco con soluciones con una concentración de 60-70% de alcohol reducen significativamente la cantidad de gérmenes. Metodología: se realizó un estudio cuasi experimental con el objetivo de comparar carga bacteriana en manos de personal sanitario antes y después de lavado convencional y lavado en seco. Se incluyó 22 trabajadores sanitarios, divididos en 2 grupos al azar (grupo A y B), a todos se les hizo cultivo en agar sangre y agar McConkey previo al lavado. El grupo A (11 participantes) realizó lavado convencional, tomando cultivos nuevamente, luego realizó lavado en seco, se tomó nueva muestra de cultivos. El grupo B (11 participantes), luego de lavado en seco se realizó nuevo cultivo de manos. Se compararon todos los grupos con prueba T Student. Resultados: se identificaron 1521 UFC previo al lavado de manos convencional (A1), con una reducción del 38% en carga bacteriana después de lavado (A2) sin encontrar diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p 0.052), posterior a lavado convencional más lavado en seco (A3) se encontró reducción de 62.66% de UFC con respecto a A1, encontrando una diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p 0.014). En el lavado en seco se identificaron 1503 UFC previo a lavado de manos con una reducción del 62.72% de UFC posterior a lavado, encontrando diferencia estadísticamente significativa (p 0.0026). Conclusión: El lavado de manos con jabón de base alcohólica es mas eficaz en la reducción de carga bacteriana que lavado de manos convencional con agua y jabón...AU)

Introduction: numerous studies have confirmed that the hand rub with solutions with a concentration of 60% -70% alcohol significantly reduce the amount of germs. Methodology: quasi-experimental study was performed in order to compare bacterial load in the hands of medical personnel before and after conventional washing and alcohol based hand rub. It included 22 health workers, divided randomly into 2 groups (group A and B), all they did blood agar and McConkey agar culture prior to washing. The group A (11 participants) performed conventional washing, taking culture again, then performed alcohol based hand rub, new sample for culture was taken The group B (11 participants), then alcohol based hand rub performed new culture of hands. All groups were compared with Student test. Results: 1521 CFU were identified prior to conventional hand washing (A1) with a 38% reduction in bacterial load after washing (A2) found no statistically significant difference (p 0.052), after conventional washing over alcohol based hand rub (A3) was found 62.66% reduction of CFU with respect to A1, finding a statistically significant (p 0.014). In the dry cleaning UFC 1503 were identified prior to washing hands with a 62.72% reduction of CFU after washing, finding statistically significant difference (p 0.0026). Conclusion: Alcohol based hand rub is more effective in reducing bacterial load than conventional hand washing with soap and water...(AU)