On the sterilisation of the hands : a bacteriological inquiry into the relative value of various agents used in the disinfection of the hands / by Charles Leedham-Green.

  • Leedham-Green, Charles.
Date:
1904
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: On the sterilisation of the hands : a bacteriological inquiry into the relative value of various agents used in the disinfection of the hands / by Charles Leedham-Green. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    METHOD OF INVESTIGATION. Almost every experimentalist uses a different method of testing^ the sterility of the hands. This is one of many reasons which make a comparison of the results of different investigators almost an impossibility. In some cases the test applied is too simple and not sufficiently thorough, as when Schleich* uses a platinum loop to stroke the dried hand; whereas in others it is too severe, extending even to the excision of portions of the skin. We desire a test which shall give a fair indication of the extent to which the hands at a surgical operation are infected after any process of sterilisation has been attempted. The test should present an idea of the number of microbes that would be liable to be detached during an operation. In deciding whether the hands may be rendered sterile or not, we do not require a stronger test than this. When, how- ever. we turn to consider the relative efficiency of the various methods of sterilisation proposed, more stringent means may with advantage be employed. Personally I have almost invariably proceeded as follows:—After the process of cleansing the hands has been completed, they have been finally rinsed in warm sterilised water, and then, whilst still wet, a sterile slip of thin ivory, having broad angular ends and roughened sur- faces, has been rubbed by the operator over both his hands, and its points have been passed under his nails. This slip has then been dropped into a tube con- taining culture medium. This method is similar to the one suggested by Fiirbringer.t except that he used sharpened pieces of hard wood instead of ivory. The * Neue Methode der fVundheili'tng. Berlin, 1899. + Untersuchungcn und Vorschriftcn uber die Desinfektion der Hdnde des Arzles. Wiesbaden, 1S86.
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