Abstract:
Poor hand-hygiene compliance among healthcare workers leads to increase
disease transmission. The aim of the study was to develop alcohol based
hand scrubs using medicinal plant extracts and evaluate the antimicrobial
efficacy against selected microorganisms. Two types of alcohol based
herbal hand scrubs were prepared, with the combination of clove oil and
leaf extract of aloe vera (F1) and combination of cinnamon oil and leaf
extract of aloe vera (F2). Twenty-five health care professionals (medical
laboratory technologists and research officers) at Medical Research
Institute, Sri Lanka were randomly tested to identify the viable pathogens
present on their hands. From the identified microorganisms, standard
cultures of Acinetobacter baumannii and Proteus mirabilis were used to test
antimicrobial activity of the prepared scrubs using agar well-diffusion
method. The physical stability parameters (pH, odor, appearance and
colour) were monitored for 90 days at room temperature. The formulated
hand scrubs were found to be homogenous, liquid and milky-white in
colour with a pleasant odor. The mean values of inhibition zones of F1 were
20.00 ± 2.00 mm and 20.30 ± 1.53 mm against Acinetobacter baumannii
and Proteus mirabillis respectively. The mean values of inhibition zones of
F2 were 10.00 ± 0.00 mm and 09.33 ± 1.15 mm against Acinetobacter
baumannii and Proteus mirabillis respectively. No inhibition zones were
obtained for the negative controls (distilled water-N1, glycerin-N2) and
positive controls (70% ethanol-P1, market product-P2) against the pathogens
tested. Therefore, it is concluded that the formulated alcohol-based hand
scrubs are having promising antimicrobial activity against the pathogens
tested.
