Dr Manal Mohammed, Lecturer in Medical Microbiology, wrote an article for The Conversation about five different ways the surge in hand sanitiser may not be great news in the long-term.
In the article, Dr Manal Mohammed discussed how the use of hand sanitisers and other cleaning products has massively increased globally due to COVID-19 and are likely to continue being used even when cases drop, and a significant amount of people are vaccinated against the virus, which may cause long-term problems.
Discussing the issue of potential toxicity, she wrote: “Hand sanitisers are mainly made of alcohol – either ethanol or isopropanol – at 60%-95% concentration, and may be toxic when misused. One study reported that regular application of ethanol hand sanitisers resulted in relatively low but measurable blood concentrations of ethanol. Although this was below acute toxic levels, continuous applications can result in ‘chronic toxicity’, increasing the risk of health problems such as eczema or skin cancer. It may sometimes even be lethal.”
Dr Mohammed also wrote about antimicrobial resistance: “The repeated use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers is also contributing to a rise in superbugs as microbes become resistant to them. Superbugs include bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics, and can be lethal. Studies have already found that several bacterial strains have begun to become tolerant to hand sanitisers.”
Read the full story on The Conversation’s website.
