A recent study has revealed that some types of bacteria are becoming more tolerant towards hand sanitizers. Hand Sanitizers are now used across a wide variety of situations, including hospitals and other institutions. Hospitals started using these alcohol-based cleaning agents, considering the effectiveness towards bacteria and other types of infections. However, the study says that some kinds of bacteria were able to withstand these sanitizers and go ahead. The same bacteria are now more tolerant towards hand sanitizers used as of now. According to the published research, the bacteria are now dealing with the alcohol element.
As mentioned earlier, most of the hand sanitizers are based on alcohol as the main ingredient. Although not completely resistant, enterococci infections are now able to withstand the alcohol-based sanitizers. In very practical terms, even after using the hand sanitizers, the bacteria will be able to survive. It may even go to an extent of staying inside the body for a longer period of time. Considering that most of the sanitizers used in hospitals are based on alcohol — in fact, containing 60% of alcohol —, the chances of risks are increasing on a global scale.
The authors of the paper believe that the issue is getting bigger. The aforesaid bacteria are also becoming a lot more resistant to some drugs. Even some of the powerful antibiotics are unable to cure the bacteria — as it has acquired some kind of resistance in the course of time. Authors of the paper say that they were taken by surprise while seeing the results. Hospital bacteria becoming tolerant towards alcohol-based hand sanitizers is a bigger problem indeed. Experts say that people should stop being so confident about hygiene just because they used alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Use of such sanitizers is not a reason to decrease the frequency of washes either.
