Germgard Lighting Demonstrates Two-Second, Bare- and Gloved-Hand Sterilization

Germgard Lighting announces it has developed, tested and confirmed by independent testing that a small UVC dispenser, specifically designed for sterilizing bare or gloved hands safely and quickly, achieves -6log10 inactivation of all relevant pathogens, including tough-to-kill Clostridium difficile spores. It has developed a simple, proprietary means to protect bare skin from UVC exposure. Sterilization of gloved or bare hands is implemented within a few seconds including an exposure time of only two seconds.

In contrast, current bare hand hygiene approaches, handwashing or use of alcohol rubs before and after patient visits, referred to as a "wash in, wash out," have limited the ability to sanitize, and, in fact, fall somewhat short of the nominal sanitation goal of -4log10 inactivation. Moreover, alcohol rub is totally ineffective on Clostridium difficile and some viruses. Alcohol rubs require 30 seconds and handwashing requires at least one minute. Either can and does irritate the hands. As a result, both techniques limit the compliance rate for hand hygiene before and after patient visits to well under 100 percent. Substantial efforts to increase the compliance rate have so far had limited effectiveness. As a result, healthcare-acquired infection (HAI) rates continue essentially unchecked.

Germgard Lighting asserts that:

-- Increased hand hygiene compliance with a broad efficacy solution would lower infection rates.

-- Placing the UVC dispenser in any convenient location should raise the compliance rate over a similarly placed alcohol dispenser since it takes only two seconds for the sanitation step and does not irritate bare hands.

-- With respect to between-patient hand sanitation, the replacement of an alcohol dispenser or sink with this solution would be more effective on bare hands at any comparable level of compliance, lowering the infection risk from any pathogen appearing in the hospital environment.