Antimicrobial liquids and foams were applied to the hands to determine their virucidal activity against rhinoviruses. Dilute solutions (1%) of iodine in ethyl alcohol or in water were most effective in causing inactivation of rhinovirus when applied immediately after viral contamination. Iodine also had a residual virucidal activity which persisted on the hands for up to 1 h. Less effective ina...

BACKGROUND The presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (GISA) in hospitals poses a significant challenge to hospital infection control teams. The use of disinfectants for both surface and hand cleaning is an essential part of the infection control measures. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of common hospital hand disinfecta...

A gloved-hand method is presented for evaluating the interaction of antimicrobial agents with the normal resident bacterial flora of human skin. One of the key features of the experimental model is a simplified technique for sampling the skin, which involves the addition of eluting fluid to the gloved hand. As with other skin sampling techniques, the number of bacteria recovered from the hands ...