CMAJ: Hand sanitizers may increase norovirus risk

CMAJ: Hand sanitizers may increase norovirus risk

Alcohol-based hand sanitizers may not be the panacea for hand hygiene they were once supposed, as mounting research indicates they may not be effective substitutes for soap and water, and in some cases may actually increase the risk for outbreaks of highly contagious viruses in health care settings...

...While these findings indicate that alcohol-based hand sanitizers might be “suboptimal in controlling the spread of noroviruses,” the retrospective design of the survey precludes any causal link between hand sanitizer use and norovirus outbreaks, says author Dr. David Blaney of the Epidemic Intelligence Service at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...