Antimicrobial Activity, Safety and Acceptability of Formulated Ginger-fortified Hand Sanitizer Gel

Hand hygiene remains the most effective means of breaking transmission of most infectious diseases in and out of hospital settings. Hand hygiene could be achieved by different means. However, in recent time, the use of hand sanitizer which could either be a supplement or an alternative to hand washing has been promoted. The effectiveness of a formulated herbal hand sanitizer was investigated in this study. The herbal (ginger) hand sanitizer was formulated and screened on both bacterial and fungal isolates using different microbiological methods in this study. The skin and eye irritation potential of the sanitizer were conducted on experimental animals. Structured questionnaire was used to test the effects of the product on the skin of consenting human volunteers. The hydro-alcoholic extract of ginger showed a concentration-dependent activity on the test organisms. Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 was the most susceptible isolates followed by Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538. Serratia marcescens ATCC 9986 was more resistant to the extract at lower concentrations (0.78 and 1.56 mg/ml). Aspergillus fumigatus was the most susceptible out of the three fungi tested followed by Penicillum chrysogenum. Herbal hand sanitizer (with weighted effectiveness of 3.82) performed better than commercial hand sanitizer (with weighed effectiveness of 3.78). In the glass beads test, both herbal and commercial sanitizers inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, Escherichia coli ATCC 8739 and Serratia marcescens ATCC 9986. Though caused eye irritation, the herbal sanitizer produced neither skin irritation nor dryness. The formulated hand sanitizer is economical and found to be safe throughout long period of continued use.