Intactness of Medical Nonsterile Gloves on Use of Alcohol Disinfectants

Dear Editor, Phlebotomists wear gloves for their own protection and for patient safety; they wash hands (or apply alcohol disinfectants when pressed for time) and change gloves between patients [13]. Blood collection is delayed when gloves are changed after washing and drying hands. Moreover, latex glove disposal might increase environmental pollution. Cleansing gloved hands to prolong the use of gloves results in considerable savings of disposable examination gloves. However, the current regulation prohibits alcohol disinfection when gloves are worn, because of the concern that sanitary intactness of gloves may be compromised by alcohol; it also prohibits examination gloves to be reprocessed because of their composition, thinness, and inelasticity [1]. We evaluated the intactness of 50 medical nonsterile gloves after using alcohol disinfectants, by testing five pairs of gloves from different brands: four brands of powder-free non-sterile latex medical examination gloves and one brand of nitrile gloves. Latex glove of brands Top glove (Top Glove, Klang, Malaysia) and HandyCare (Latexx Manufacturing, Kamunting, Malaysia) were sanitized with 62% ethanol Clesis hand sanitizer gel (Liebecos, Cheonan, Korea), and Dowoo (Siam Sempermed Corp., Bangkok, Thailand) brand, with 62% ethanol 3M Hand Instant Sanitizer (3M Korea, Seoul, Korea). Gloves were sanitized by rubbing and drying the gloves 30 times. DERMAGRIP Nitrile extended cuff examination gloves (WRP Asian Pacific, Sepang, Malaysia) were sanitized in the same way, using 62% ethanol 3M Hand Instant Sanitizer. After sanitation, the gloves were filled with water and checked for leakage. All the gloves were intact after the sanitization procedure. Latex gloves of the brand Maxter (Maxter Glove Manufacturing, Klang, Malaysia) were still intact after performing the rub-and-dry action 100 times with 83% ethanol skin cleaner, New Clean Swab A (Meditop, Yongin, Korea). The distribution of major contaminated regions on the hands of phlebotomists was studied to check for decontamination after venipuncture. Fig. 1 shows the contact points of the five phlebotomists’ hands with the forearm of the patient. Bacterial suspensions of Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii were prepared to match 0.5 McFarland turbidity standards. Glass slides were smeared with each inoculum and dried for 30 minutes at room temperature. Gloved fingertips were placed on the smeared surface for 1 minute; then, they were pressed onto blood agar plate, and the plate was incubated at 35°C for 18 hours to allow for bacterial growth. Subsequently, we rubbed the gloved fingertips with alcohol disinfectant and dried them; the