Truths About Hand Sanitizers

Many hand sanitizers sold on market today claim to kill 99.9% of the bacteria.

Is this claim true?

Analysis was done on an experiment on a sanitizer that proved to have killed 99.9% of the bacteria. The sanitizer was tested on immobile objects (such as a table, chair, book), and not on human hands.

Although it may be true that it disinfects 99.9% of the bacteria on tables, its effectiveness may not be the same on human hands. Since our hands are warm and somewhat moist, it provides a better growth environment for bacteria. Thus, it may be more difficult to kill bacteria that grows on hands, thus decreasing the 99.9% claim.

In addition, even if hand sanitizers kill most bacteria, due to the nice living environment (compared with table for example), bacteria will quickly (faster than on tables) re-multiply its numbers.
 
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Today, the flu is going around and is infecting many people. It is important to keep your hands clean, and hand sanitizers may be very helpful in preventing infections and spreading it. HOWEVER, hand sanitizers should not be replaced with soap and water; soap-water combination will clean your hands (kills germs while removing oils, dirt, etc) and rinse it down the drain, whereas most of the sanitizer will stay on your hand (along with the dead germs, dirt, etc). Plus, it is said that bacteria may become immune to hand sanitizers if it is the only cleaning method used (not using soap and water, or other alternatives). Thus. hand sanitizers should only be used as a quick alternative when soap and water is not around.