NEPA Vital Signs - Winter Spring 2018 - 20

L ACKMEDSOC.ORG

LUZERNEMEDSOC.ORG

Feature

Do antibacterial soaps
really work?

or years, commercial soap manufacturers have added antibiotics to soaps
claiming it increases the number of
bacteria removed from your hands after
washing; however, is this actually the case?
Some studies have shown that there is no
significant difference in cleanliness after
washing one's hands with antibacterial soap
versus plain soap (Kim, 2015). But why is this?
Antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria, so one
would think that soap containing antibiotics
would be much more effective than just plain
soap. To understand why antibiotics may
be particularly ineffective in hand soap, it
is important to understand just how soap
removes and prevents the spread of germs.
The general idea behind using soap is not
because it kills bacteria, but more so that it
washes the bacteria off your hands. Soaps
are products called surfactants. These are
amphipathic (have both polar and nonpolar
components) molecules, which are able
to solubilize a large number of different
compounds. This means that the soap
molecules are able to dislodge the bacteria
from your hands and send them down the
drain (Rangel, 2017). So, if antibacterial soaps
wash the bacteria off your hands, as well as
having antibiotics in them, shouldn't this kill
more bacteria? According to Kim et al one
reason for the lack of difference may be due
to the length of exposure time. It is generally
taught that to effectively wash one's hand,
you should take at least 20 seconds - or
singing "Happy Birthday" twice through.

It is generally taught that to effectively wash one's hand,
you should take at least 20 seconds - or singing "Happy
Birthday" twice through. This time span is far too short
to allow the antibiotics in antibacterial soap to function
efficiently and kill bacteria on one's hands.
This time span is far too short to allow the
antibiotics to function efficiently and kill
bacteria on one's hands. Kim et al performed
an experiment comparing the number of
bacteria present after extended time intervals of constant exposure to antibacterial
or plain soaps. Their results showed little
difference in bacterial numbers at any time
less than 6 hours, but antibacterial soap did
work significantly better after 9 hours compared to plain soap. Therefore, antibacterial
soaps do work more effectively over long
time periods. In real-world situations (i.e. a
maximum of perhaps 30 seconds), however,
there is no significant difference between
plain and antibacterial soaps (Kim, 2015).

of this rule, in 2016 the FDA banned the use
of 19 widely used chemicals within antibacterial soaps because companies were unable
to provide adequate safety data on the compounds they used (FDA, 2017; Rangel, 2017).

Despite the fact that the addition of
antibiotics in soaps does not improve their
efficacy, healthcare professionals cannot
stress enough the importance of proper
hand hygiene - even with just plain soap
and water. Whether a person is a physician, a
nurse, or simply a parent who wants to protect their child from becoming sick, everyone
is encouraged to wash their hands to prevent
the transmission of illness. According to the
FDA, "That's still one of the most important
Additionally, in recent years the FDA has steps you can take to avoid getting sick and
called into the question the safety of long- to prevent spreading germs" (FDA, 2017).
term use of antibacterial soaps. Because
of these concerns and the unknowns of
CHRISTIAN HAGUE is a second
the effects of long-term exposure to these
year medical student and the Geisinger
Commonwealth School of Medicine. He
compounds, in 2013 the FDA required manwas born and raised in Williamsport.
ufacturers to provide safety and efficacy data
on what they used in their soaps. As a result

Kim, S. A., Moon, H., Lee, K., & Rhee, M. S. (2015). Bactericidal effects of triclosan in soap both in vitro and in vivo. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, 70(12), 3345-3352.
Rangel, G. Gerhardt, M. (2017). Say goodbye to antibacterial soaps: Why the FDA is banning a household item. Retrieved December 7, 2017, from: http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/
say-goodbye-antibacterial-soaps-fda-banning-household-item/
Consumer Updates - Antibacterial Soap? You Can Skip It, Use Plain Soap and Water. (2017. Retrieved November 20, 2017, from: https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378393.htm

N E PA

VITAL SIGNS

http://www.lackmedsoc.org http://www.LUZERNEMEDSOC.ORG http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/say-goodbye-antibacterial-soaps-fda-banning-household-item/ http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/say-goodbye-antibacterial-soaps-fda-banning-household-item/ https://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm378393.htm

NEPA Vital Signs - Winter Spring 2018

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