Alcoholic antiseptics for hands do not save from germs

The researchers conducted a monitoring of the effectiveness of alcoholic antiseptics, establishing that over the past 20 years many species of bacteria have adapted to surviving in an aggressive liquid. Malicious microorganisms have increased resistance by a factor of 10.

Hand disinfectants have been used in hospitals since the beginning of the 21st century, but their composition has become obsolete. The appearance of antiseptics allowed to eliminate the activity of enterococci and staphylococci, when alcohol dissolved the outer shell of bacteria. However, during the evolution of harmful microbes became resistant to disinfectant fluids, when the survival rate of enterococci increased by 5 times.

At the same time, the activity of staphylococcus a few times, although this factor did not allow to save a lot of lives, carried away by hospital infections. About 50% of all patients infected inside the clinic are dying, which indicates the need to launch new types of antiseptics.