In this day of instant everything, consumers looking for a fast way to clean their hands often turn to disinfecting wipes or hand sanitizers found in the shelves of most drugstores and supermarkets.
These popular products are often advertised as "99.
9 percent effective against germs" and supposedly offer a convenient way of fighting disease-carrying bacteria without going through the time-honored ritual of hand washing.
It is for this reason why they are widely used in hospitals, schools and other public settings.
In America alone, an estimated $1 billion a year is spent on these products.
But are these products effective as advertised or are you better off with plain soap and water instead? Two new studies give conflicting views.
In one study, disinfecting wipes were found to spread - rather than prevent - hospital-acquired infections like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that affects 100,000 people in the United States each year.
At the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology, researchers from Cardiff University's Welsh School of Pharmacy reported that when used improperly the wipes may spread bacteria rather than remove or kill them.
This was observed by Jean-Yves Maillard, Ph.
D.
, Gareth Williams, Ph.
D.
, and colleagues who studied hospital staffers as they used the wipes to disinfect hospital rooms.
"While most of the wipes tested did remove large numbers of bacteria from contaminated surfaces, they also commonly transferred live bacteria to uncontaminated surfaces when used in more than one place.
Even some wipes that claimed to kill bacteria were found to transfer live bacteria from one surface to another," according to Salynn Boyles of WebMD Health News.
"Many of the wipes were effective, but the message is that they have to be used properly," Williams said.
Now for the good news.
While frequent hand washing is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of diseases that are responsible for school absenteeism, a study published in the journal Pediatrics said that you can get the same benefit from the frequent use of disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizers.
This comes from researchers at the Boston Children's Hospital who conducted a randomized, controlled trial at an Ohio elementary school where wipes and sanitizers were used in some classrooms, but not in others.
The wipes were used once a day to disinfect the students' desks at selected classrooms while the students were told to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer several times a day.
In other classrooms, the students simply washed their hands.
After eight weeks, the researchers found that there was no difference in the absentee rate due to respiratory illness in both groups.
But the group that used the wipes and hand sanitizers had a lower rate of gastrointestinal illness.
"Hand washing is really the best way to prevent the spread of infection, but this study suggests that hand sanitizers and disinfecting wipes can also play a role.
This is a relatively low cost and simple way for schools to help keep kids healthy," said researcher Dr.
Thomas J.
Sandora.
To benefit from these findings, the Mayo Clinic recommends alcohol-based products that contain at least 60 percent alcohol.
For extremely dirty hands, however, use regular soap and water.
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