Hand Hygiene Practices and the Effectiveness of Hand Sanitizers at Controlling Enteropathogens among the Residents of a University Community in Osun State Nigeria

Aim: To explore perceptions, attitudes and hand washing practices in relation to the effectiveness of hand sanitizers in controlling enteropathogens amongst residents of a Nigerian University with the purpose of creating awareness on the importance of hand hygiene to control the spread of communicable diseases.

Study Design: A simple random cluster sampling technique was used. A questionnaire designed to relate demographic and hand hygiene practices to the effectiveness of the practices to the control of enteropathogens was applied to the respondents.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out between January and May, 2018 at the Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria.

Methodology: Sterile swabs moistened with sterile normal saline were used in sampling the palms of 50 respondents and the normal transient flora was established, samples were again taken to determine effectiveness of hand washing at reducing the bacterial load and the diversity of organisms isolated from the samples after hand washing and application of hand sanitizers. Using standard microbiological methods, serial dilutions of the swabs in normal saline were plated on Eosin Methylene Blue agar in order to isolate members of the bacterial family Enterobacteriacae. Identification was done using cultural, morphological and relevant biochemical tests. Subsequently, the results for the different treatments were compared using the Duncan’s multiple range test at p<0.05.

Results: The results showed that at least 60% of the respondents were unaware of the WHO recommended way to wash hands and 72% of these do not wash their hands before eating food or after taking care of sick people. The predominant transient hand flora in the tested population were determined to be constituted by the following bacterial species, namely, Enterobacter spp, Enterobacter aerogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, Yersinia pestis, Erwinia cactida, Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella oxytoca. Hand washing with soap was found to be more effective at reducing these on the hands of the respondents at a degree similar to treatment with the hand sanitizer were PL® with a label claim of 70% alcohol contentand more effective than hand sanitizers CS® and GC® with 62% and 60% alcohol content respectively.

Conclusion: Hand washing with soap and water when done properly remains the most reliable means of breaking the cycle and spread of preventable enteropathogens in the community setting and it is perhaps more reliable than the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.