The Efficiency of Hand Sanitizers Against Microbes From Coins

Abstract

\n Objective:This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of hand sanitizers against bacteria from circulating coins during COVID 19 era.Method:22-coin samples have been collected by the research group from taxi drivers in Nablus city, Then the samples were transferred in a sterile plastic bag to the Microorganism Laboratory (17B1140) at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at An-Najah National University. The collected coins were swabbed with normal saline and cultured on nutrient agar for enrichment. After their appearance, the grown colony has been sub-cultured on Blood, MacConkey, and Uri select, for identification with the assistance of microscopical examination and chemical tests for confirmation. To answer the question of the study, four different sanitizers have been applied to measure their antimicrobial activity against microbes from circulating metal coins. Result:The results showed that sanitizer A (Hand sanitizer gel) (ג ל להיגיינת הידיים ללא צורך , בשטיפה ובמים) is the most effective one of the four sanitizers that were used, followed by sanitizer (D)(HiGeen )(JO), then sanitizer (C)(National ) (PS), while sanitizer (B)(Icona London) (UK) was the least effective one.Conclusion:The research group have conducted research on coins circulated from taxi drivers during COVID 19 era, hence the number of isolated bacteria was low, due to the current sterilization and prevention behaviors like the using of sanitizers containing 70% of alcohol, which was the best among the used types in the current study as well as it has been observed that excessive use of alcohol- based hand sanitizers can cause microorganisms resistant and or less affected to repeated use of hand sanitizer. Hence, Hand sanitizers may need to be used appropriately in combination with other procedures.