According to the World Health Organization (WHO) there are at least 5 million cases of Health care Associated Infections (HAI), with at least 135,000 deaths annually, according to an article on the Business World website.
The answer, according to Dr. Didier Pittet, director of the Infection Control Program, is hand washing. It should have been a simple solution but according to Pittet, compliance with hand hygiene in the health care setting is lower than 40%, the article said.
To address this non-compliance, Pittet advocated the use of alcohol rubs instead of washing hands with soap and water because it is more efficient and convenient as it has higher antimicrobial properties than soap, the article said.
“All [types of alcohol] are okay provided that they are efficacious -- the alcohol content should be high enough. The alcohol [must meet] the WHO standard which is higher [than 70%] concentration of isopropyl alcohol and [more than or equal to 80%] concentration of ethanol (ethyl alcohol),” Pittet said in the article.
Alcohol rinses (those in liquid state) are proven to be more efficacious than those that come in gel form, Pittet said.
Read the article.
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