Week 7

Hi everyone! I hope things have been going well. Here is my project background. I've also included a picture of the plate for the Dove soap. It's not horrible but nowhere near the effectiveness of the Hibiclens plate! 

Project Background

What is currently known about my topic, is that hand washing has been promoted as an effective preventive measure against various health-related issues, including diarrheal diseases, undernutrition, and neglected tropical diseases. While being a simple means of prevention and protection, hand washing has also proven to be time effective and cost effective. Although hand washing has been proven to be an effective first line of defense against bacteria, the types of soap recommended and the ingredients in the soaps is a topic that is still debated. Water is an inefficient skin cleanser because organic soil and bacterial biofilm (a group of bacteria attached to a surface) is not easily dissolved in water. Soaps and detergents (surfactants) join with bacteria and soil making them water soluble. Mechanical friction (rubbing the hands together) helps mix the surfactant and soil thereby increasing water solubility and loosening bacteria and soil. Surfactants and friction help separate soil from hands or other surfaces that can be rinsed away. Handwashing with soap removes soil and biofilm with mechanical friction. This includes alcohol based hand rubs versus antimicrobial soaps and WHO recommends a 6-step handwashing procedure. 

It is important to expand on this current knowledge because new soaps are being made and new bacteria/sicknesses/viruses react differently to different soaps/methods of hand washing. Hand washing methods have recently been specifically looked at during 2020 at the proliferation of COVID-19. During the beginning stages of the pandemic where appropriate medicine had not yet been utilized, hand washing was still a large support in the prevention and cross contamination of bacteria in hospitals. The additional data of media plates and cultures gathered will help solidify the previous semester’s results and further verify the effectiveness of the Hibiclens soap. This is also important since the Hibiclens soap is widely used in hospitals. A place where a variety of different illnesses and bacteria are gathered needs an effective soap or first line defense in order to protect hospital staff and patients from further contamination. 

My research question is, based on the different types of soaps or just water that is used combined with the W.H.O handwashing technique and through testing of hand/fingernail cleanliness by observing and counting colonies on media culture, which type of soap or only water proves to be the most effective at eliminating as many organisms on the hands as possible. Based on the previous semesters data, my hypothesis is, if the W.H.O hand washing technique combined with the Hibiclens antiseptic soap is utilized, then the amount of bacteria, representing the amount on the hands, discovered and counted on the media plates will be less than using the other types of soaps or only water. The results that I may discover are whether or not the previous results that were observed with U.V. light and the Glo-Germ lotion correlates with the results of the media cultures and if the Hibiclens soap continues to prove to be the most effective at decreasing bacterial counts. 

References

Burton, Maxine, et al. “The Effect of Handwashing with Water or Soap on Bacterial Contamination of Hands.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3037063/.

FISCHLER, GEORGE E., et al. “Effect of Hand Wash Agents on Controlling the Transmission of Pathogenic Bacteria from Hands to Food.” Science Direct Assets, 27 July 2007, Science Direct Assets.

Nasution, Tetty Aman, et al. “Effectiveness Hand Washing and Hand Rub Method in Reducing Total Bacteria Colony from Nurses in Medan.” Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 14 Oct. 2019, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6980800/.

Suen, Lorna K. P., et al. “Microbiological Evaluation of Different Hand Drying Methods for Removing Bacteria from Washed Hands.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 24 Sept. 2019, www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-50239-4.

Zuniga, Cynthia. “Handwashing Lab Report (1) (PDF).” CliffsNotes, 13 May 2024, www.cliffsnotes.com/study-notes/13953865.

2021 Hand Hygiene Research Summary, globalhandwashing.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2021-Hand-Hygiene-Research-Summary_en.pdf. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024. 

“When and How to Wash Your Hands.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Nov. 2022, www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html. 

Curtis, Valerie. “Handwashing and Risk of Respiratory Infections: A Quantitative ...” Wiley Online Library, 7 Mar. 2006, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2006.01568.x.

Author links open overlay panelElaine L. Larson RN, et al. “A Multifaceted Approach to Changing Handwashing Behavior.” American Journal of Infection Control, Mosby, 18 May 2004, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196655397900468. 

Cairncross, Sandy, and Isaac Chun-Hai Fung. “Effectiveness of Handwashing in Preventing SARS: A Review - Fung ...” Wiley Online Library, 25 Sept. 2006, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2006.01734.x.