Foam-based soaps may not have any benefits
- Many hospitals, nursing homes and schools are switching to foam-based soaps
- But a small study has found that it may not be the best form of killing off bugs
- More conventional types provide more protection from possible infections
Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Using foam-based soap may not have any benefits, a new study warns.
Having increased in popularity in recent years, hospitals, nursing homes and schools are switching to the form of handwash.
But scientists now claim that using it while hand-washing may not be the best way to kill bacteria.
More conventional types, such as liquid-based ones, provide more protection from possible infections, research shows.
Scientists now claim that using foam-based soap while hand-washing may not be the best way to kill bacteria
University of California, Los Angeles experts believe foam soap may be less effective because it comes out of the pump as a lather.
In contrast, liquid soap is built up in the process of hand-washing.
Also, the amount of soap in foam is markedly less in a single pump than is found in its liquid counterpart, according to study author Dr Ozlem Equils.
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He said: ‘For domestic use it may not make a difference whether a foam or liquid soap is used because cleaning of the hands is the main purpose of washing them.’
For the study, the researchers tested two common brands of foam and liquid soaps that are readily available in shops on 10 adults.
Split in half, they were asked to wash their hands for six seconds with one pump of either soap. They then dried their hands with a paper towel for four seconds.
More conventional types, such as liquid-based ones, provide more protection from possible infections, research shows
HOW TO WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY
To properly wash your hands using the superior six-step method begin by wetting hands with water and grab either a dollop of soap or hand rub.
Begin rubbing your palms together with your fingers closed, then together with fingers interlaced.
Move your right palm over left dorsum with interlaced fingers and vice versa – make sure to really rub in between your fingers.
Then interlock your fingers and rub the back of them by turning your wrist in a half circle motion.
Clasp your left thumb in your right palm and rub in in a rotational motion from the tip of your fingers to the end of the thumb, then switch hands.
And finally scrub the inside of your right hand with your left fingers closed and the other hand.
In the small test, the former was found to barely make a difference in killing bacteria during hand-washing.
Average bacterial colony counts on each hand went from 3.6 to 2.6, but the researchers said this could have been a coincidence.
However, the latter showed a statistically significant impact on reducing the colony count, they found.
Those who washed their hands with liquid soap saw their colony count slashed from 3.8 to 1.2.
Two more sets of experiments were conducted with similar findings on additional volunteers.
But the researchers say that more research is needed to confirm the findings which were published in the American Journal of Infection Control.
This comes after the deputy chief medical officer in the UK said everyone must wash their hands for the length of time it takes to sing the first verse of the national anthem.
In November, Dr Gina Radford warned that the majority of people did not wash their hands for long enough and many did not use soap.
Failure to carry out this ‘basic hygiene’ was causing people to pick up common infections and contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, she cautioned.
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