Scrubbing and rubbing
For routine surgical hand preparation alcohol-based handrubs are superior to scrubs because they are equally effective but cause less skin irritation, are cheaper, and use less water.
Learn more
Currently, there is no common definition for the remanent (from Latin remanere = to stay behind, remain) or residual effect of disinfectants.
When an active substance remains on the skin after the exposure time and is active there for a longer period of time, the substance has a remanent effect (see figure). Such ingredients usually achieve a less initial reduction than alcohols and are therefore often combined with fast-acting alcohols.
Current established standard methods cannot determine the effect a remanent ingredient has on the regrowing resident skin flora or new transient microorganisms.
