Do hand sanitizers really kill 99.99% of germs? How can they prove that’s true?
In: Biology
Most sanitizers and disinfectants are created to kill a list of different bacterias that are quite common. However there are some that they can’t kill. A good example of this would be c-diff. Typically you need 200ppm solution to sanitize for any number of “germs” on most sanitizers list. With c-diff you need 5000ppm. So typically sanitizers will kill most “germs” on, and even off its list, it will however not kill some of the nastier ones. The reason for this can be found in how a “germ” dies. Not all germs die the same way, so an alcohol bases sanitizer which basically defeats “germs” by drying them out doesn’t so well against a germ the creates spores at death that can survive alcohol.
Tldr: some germs die differently and therefore you can’t kill them all the same way. Regularly and properly washing your hands has a better likelihood of keeping you “germ” free than just squirting sanitizer in your hands.
Edit: I was a sanitary supply rep for years and this was always the big question. Every year when some big germ craze would happen everyone would flip out. Reality was when they went heavy on hand sanitizer more people got sick than when they would push employees, students, or patrons to wash their hands properly.
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