Join us! Move Europe with us!

Hand Disinfectants: A Simple Way to Reduce Illness Periods

In addition, study conducted by the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine in Greifswald has found that symptoms of illness were reduced during times when participants were not absent from work, suggesting that hand disinfectant use may may improve overall job productivity.

Nils-Olaf Hübner of the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine in Greifswald, Germany, and colleagues had randomly assigned volunteers in public administrations - one group receiving alcohol-based hand disinfection, a control group receiving no intervention. The intervention group was supplied with hand disinfectant and instructed to use it 5 times or more during the workday, especially after activities such as toilet use and nose blowing that would likely facilitate bacterial or viral transfer. Monthly questionnaires for one year determined respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms and days of work for a total of 1230 person-months.

The researchers report that hand disinfection reduced the number of episodes of illness for the majority of the registered symptoms, including the common cold, fever and coughing. Participants in the intervention group reported fewer days ill for most of the aforementioned symptoms assessed. For diarrhea, the odds ratio for being absent became statistically significant.

Summing up his findings Hübner suggested that "Hand disinfection can easily be introduced and maintained as part of the daily hand hygiene, acting as an interesting and cost-efficient method of improving workforce health and effectiveness."

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/727419