Play

They’ve been all the rage for their convenience, but new findings seem to suggest hand sanitisers are don’t sanitise nearly as well as old-fashioned soap and water do.

A new video from AsapSCIENCE explains that while sanitisers do manage to kill most of the bacteria and some viruses, washing your hands will mean that you remove them completely. Else, they’re still on your hands, dead or alive.

A study conducted in 2009 had vaccinated hospital workers divided into several groups to test the effectiveness of different methods used to eliminate bacteria on people’s hands.

Their hands were actually contaminated with the live influenza A virus, following which the different groups proceeded to clean their hands in different ways. Some used soap and water for 40 seconds followed by paper towels. Some used 61.5 percent ethanol sanitiser for 20 seconds. Yet others used a combination of alcohol and anti-bacterial methods. And the rest didn’t do anything at all.

The control group with the most viral DNA was undisputedly the group that did nothing at all. A no-brainer, right? But, crucially, the group with the least viral DNA was the soap and water group.

Oddly, although the study was conducted back in 2009, hand sanitisers actually flourished afterwards.