Alcohol gel

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An alcohol gel, also known as a hand sanitizer, is a gel used by people as an alternative to hand washing with soap and water. Isopropanol and/or ethanol are the most commonly used alcohols. When hands are not visibly dirty, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers alcohol hand sanitizers as an acceptable alternative to soap and water for hand hygiene.

Alcohol concentration must be above 60% for alcohol gel to be effective in killing microbes. Researchers at East Tennessee State University recently found that products with alcohol concentrations as low as 40% are available in American stores.

Not all pathogens are equally susceptible. Certain bacteria, especially the spore-forming gram positives (e.g. Clostridium difficile) are relatively resistant and remain biologically viable. During the Anthrax attacks on the United States Postal Service, authorities warned that alcohol hand rubs would not kill anthrax spores. In enviroments with high lipids or protein waste (such as food processing), the use of alcohol hand rubs alone may not be sufficent to ensure proper hand hygiene.

[edit] Other Uses

Alcohol gel can catch fire, producing a low blue flame. This is due to the flammable alcohol in the gel. Some hand sanitizer gels may not produce this effect due to a high concentration of water or moisturizing agents.

[edit] Safety

There have been numerous, but rare, instances where alcohol hand gels have been implicated in starting fires, including a case where static electricity ignited the gel. To minimize the risk of fire, users are instructed to rub their hands until dry, which indicates that the flammable alcohol has evaporated. [1]

[edit] Sources

http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/safefood/NEWSLTR/v8n3s06.html
Reynolds SA, Levy F, Walker ES. 2006. Hand sanitizer alert (letter). Emerging Infectious Diseases (CDC publication).
Vol. 3 Issue 2 Page 71 June 2003

Use limitations of alcoholic instant hand sanitizer as part of a food service hand hygiene program Barry Michaels, Vidhya Gangar, Chia-Min Lin, Michael Doyle