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Hand washing with soap and water best to fight spread of virus
Hand hygiene with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub may be the most effective methods to reduce the spread of influenza A virus, according to results of a new study conducted in Australia.
Researchers noted that although previous research has shown that pandemic and avian influenza are often transmitted via human hands, minimal research has focused on the effectiveness of hand hygiene regimens in reducing this spread.
The researchers recruited 20 health care workers to participate in the study. All participants were vaccinated and antibody-positive at baseline.
The participants had their hands contaminated with 1 mL of 107 tissue culture infectious dose50/0.1 mL live human influenza A virus (H5N1). For 30 seconds each participant then undertook one of five hand hygiene interventions, including no hand hygiene, soap and water hand washing or the use of one of three alcohol-based hand rubs. Participants continued with the study until they had been treated with each of the five hand hygiene regimens; a minimum interval of 24 hours was required between interventions.
For each participant, H1N1 concentrations were assessed before and after each intervention by viral culture and real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.
The results showed that soap and water was more effective against the virus than any of the alcohol-based rubs. However, the alcohol rubs were also effective and were only slightly less statistically effective than soap and water. The researchers said the study results indicated that hand hygiene with either soap and water or alcohol rubs can be effective in helping to stop the spread of pandemic or avian influenza.
Clin Infect Dis. 2009;48:285-291.