An international team of pharmacy experts has researched the effectiveness of hand sanitisers in the fight against CoViD-19 and warned the public to beware of sub-standard products.
An international team of pharmacy experts has researched the effectiveness of hand sanitisers in the fight against CoViD-19 and warned the public to beware of sub-standard products. They have also provided detailed “recipes” for the manufacture of effective hand sanitising gels and explained the science behind them.
There is a real risk, they write in a new article, that consumers are obtaining and using hand cleaners with low or inadequate concentrations of alcohol. These might appear similar to hand disinfectants, but purchasers are often unaware that such products cannot ensure disinfection and are not fit for use amid the pandemic.
Awareness campaigns
The authors – including the UK’s Dr Hamid Merchant, who is Subject Leader in Pharmacy at the University of Huddersfield – set out ways to minimise the risks.
They discourage the public from buying hand sanitiser from unknown or unreliable e-commerce sites.
They also state that pharmacists and retailers should advise customers over the selection of appropriate products for CoViD-19 infection control, and there should be awareness campaigns to educate the public on how to differentiate between products that are fit for general hygiene and cleansing and those that are not fit for coronavirus infection control.
Read more at University of Huddersfield
Image: Hand sanitisers amid CoViD-19: A critical review of alcohol-based products on the market and formulation approaches to respond to increasing demand by pharmacists at the University of Huddersfield. (Credit: University of Huddersfield)
