Does Alcohol Free Hand Sanitizer Kill H1N1 (Swine Flu)?
By
There’s a rumor going around that is suggesting that alcohol free hand sanitizer isn’t effective against the H1N1 virus. This rumor was probably started by overzealous people responding to the CDC‘s exclusion of alternative hand sanitizers in their H1N1 Flu Q&A information page.
The CDC definitely suggests that soap and water or alcohol based hand sanitizers are ideal for killing the H1N1 virus on hands, however, it recently amended their information page to include non-alcohol based hand sanitizers. They stated:
What if soap and water are not available and alcohol-based products are not allowed in my facility? If soap and water are not available and alcohol-based products are not allowed, other hand sanitizers that do not contain alcohol may be useful.
The main thing to keep in mind when comparing alcohol based hand sanitizers with natural (non-alcohol based) hand sanitizers, is that they do work, but somewhat differently. While alcohol is known to kill viruses upon contact, alcohol free hand sanitizers do not. A recent third party, Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) compliant, test was conducted on HandClens, an alcohol-free hand sanitizer. The test confirmed that it can take up to 15 seconds for an alcohol free hand sanitizer to kill the H1N1 virus.
The verdict? Alcohol free hand sanitizers do kill the H1N1 virus, but not instantly like alcohol based hand sanitizers. The key thing to remember is to make sure you rub it on your hands for at least 15 seconds and you should be fine.
