MISINFORMATION CASE: CAN BACTERIA BECOME RESISTANT TO ALCOHOL-BASED HAND SANITIZER ?
After the publication of a misleading study regarding certain bacteria’s tolerance to very low concentrations of alcohol, this type of “bad buzz” in the lay press is unfortunately common, and may put people’s health at risk.
There has been no evidence of any bacterial resistance to alcohol based handrub (whose concentration of alcohol is between 60-80%).
Our team has actually published a response to this particular study in the Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2018, which you can download here.
Hand hygiene with alcohol-based handrub is still the best way to disinfect hands (unless the hands are visibly soiled or contaminated with spore- forming organisms, in which case washing with soap and water is preferable).
