Testing the bactericidal efficiency of an anticeptic, SOW by comparing it with regular soap on hands of hospital staff in Hacettepe University.

In this project, the aim was to test the bactericidal efficiency of an hand antiseptic called SOW, by comparing it to a regular soap. Disinfectants are used to reduce the bacteria on the hands of the hospital staff to diminish the risk of contamination of the bacteria to other patients. Disinfectants in hospitals are tested often because the hospital acquired diseases are seen commonly in Turkey and it is necessary to be hygienic in order to prevent those diseases. If a disinfectant material is not effective, it can cause the bacteria to spread to other patients and it would cause diseases. Soap is a widely used disinfectant and is cheaper than SOW. In order to understand whether SOW is effective or not, soap is used as a comparator. There are several methods for testing the efficiency of a disinfectant. It is necessary to find out which of the testing methods is more suitable to get more accurate results. In this experiment, the surgical hand antisepsis method was chosen because the disinfectant, SOW, was going to be used in hospitals. In the experiment, the 14 staff who work in Hacettepe University Hospital were chosen. They were asked to wash their hands with regular soap and then they were divided into two groups, seven in each, one using the SOW while the other does not. Both of the groups put their hands into petri dish. After the incubation of the buyyon into petri dishes, the bacterial colonies were counted. By using statistical tests, it was found out that both of the disinfectants were effective. Afterwards, by calculating the percent decreases in colony counts after disinfectant use, the statistical analysis showed that there was not a meaningful difference in the efficiency of both disinfectants in terms of reducing bacterial colonies. In conclusion, these results suggest that SOW is not a superior disinfectant compared to soap and both can be used in hospitals to reduce the contamination of bacteria