Even though alcohol-based hand disinfectants have been used for decades as a routine measure in Europe, in the USA until recently handwashing was the procedure of choice. Alcohol-based rub products were recommended only if no handwashing facility or running water was available. It was only during the late 80s and early 90s that the advantages of alcohol-based products began to elicit interest. ...

BACKGROUND Hand disinfection is frequently recommended for prevention of rhinovirus (RV) infection and RV-associated common colds. The effectiveness of this intervention has not been established in a natural setting. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hand disinfection on RV infection and RV-associated common cold illness in a natural setting. METHODS A controlled clinic...

BACKGROUND The economical impact of absenteeism and reduced productivity due to acute infectious respiratory and gastrointestinal disease is normally not in the focus of surveillance systems and may therefore be underestimated. However, large community studies in Europe and USA have shown that communicable diseases have a great impact on morbidity and lead to millions of lost days at work, scho...

There has been a major change in the basic approach taken to hospital hygiene practices, and indeed to infection control within the hospital on the whole. Whereas as recently as the 1990s lectures on the topic of hand disinfection at international congresses were confined to "the periphery of the congress", today several keynote speakers address this issue with the full attention of the audienc...

Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem in the hospital setting. Organisms that cause hospital-acquired infections are generally highly resistant, requiring expensive antibiotics and further hospitalization. As a result, many owners of infected pets choose euthanasia. Appropriate hospital disinfection and staff hygiene practices can prevent such infections by reducing the pathogen load in a ...

The role of disinfection in infection prevention has been analyzed over the past 50 years both in the form of benefit-risk evaluations as well as in an epidemiological sense. This has served as the basis for not only national and international guidelines and recommendations, but has also created the legal and normative framework for regulation of infection control (and hence of disinfection) in...

BACKGROUND Good hand hygiene compliance is essential to prevent nosocomial infections in healthcare settings. Direct observation of hand hygiene compliance is the gold standard but is time consuming. An electronic dispenser with built-in wireless recording equipment allows continuous monitoring of its usage. The purpose of this study was to monitor the use of alcohol-based hand rub dispensers w...