COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ANTIMICROBIAL EFFICACY OF TWO POPULAR HAND SANITIZERS SOLD IN INDIA

HARUMAVALI KAUR¹, MANISHA JAIN², KAMNA SAINI³*, DIPTI SINGLA^4
1Department of Food Science, MCM DAV College for Women, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160036, Panjab, India
²Department of Food Science, MCM DAV College for Women, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160036, Panjab, India
³Faculty of Life Sciences, Institute of Applied Medicines and Research, Ghaziabad, 201206, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, 250001, Uttar Pradesh, India
⁴Department of Food Science, MCM DAV College for Women, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160036, Panjab, India
* Corresponding Author : kamna.sainii@gmail.com

Received : 14-01-2019     Accepted : 17-04-2019     Published : 30-04-2019
Volume : 11     Issue : 4       Pages : 1540 - 1543
Int J Microbiol Res 11.4 (2019):1540-1543

Keywords : Hand sanitizer, Hygiene, Antibacterial, Hand microflora
Conflict of Interest : None declared
Acknowledgements/Funding : Authors are thankful to Department of Food Science, MCM DAV College for Women, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160036, Panjab, India. Authors are also thankful to Institute of Applied Medicines and Research, Ghaziabad, 201206, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut, 250001, Uttar Pradesh, India
Author Contribution : All authors equally contributed

Hand hygiene is considered to be of prime importance to resist various hygiene related diseases like typhoid, cholera, jaundice etc. This study was aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial efficacy of Dettol and Lifebuoy hand sanitizers among college students. Ten volunteers without any clinical signs of infection were included in the study. Sterile cotton swab sticks were used to take swabs from both hands, both before and after the use of hand sanitizers and after incubation colony forming units count were taken to calculate the percentage reduction in bacterial count. Transient micro flora on hand was isolated and characterised by gram staining and biochemical tests. Antibacterial efficacy of both the hand sanitizers was evaluated by agar-well diffusion assay against the identified isolates of transient micro flora. Dettol hand sanitizer showed 87 to 99% bacterial reduction while Lifebuoy showed 77 to 99.9% bacterial reduction. A total of six isolates of transient microflora were identified as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus lactis, Bacillus cereus, Alcaligenes faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa on the basis of results of Gram staining and biochemical tests (IMViC). Zone of inhibition of 1 to 9mm was observed for Dettol while 0.7 to 4mm was observed for Lifebuoy in agar-well diffusion assay. These results indicate that both the hand sanitizers were effective in their antibacterial properties and can be used as an alternative approach to hand hygiene by washing.

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