Hand Sanitizers in Schools

Hand sanitizer is a disinfecting agent most often composed of alcohol. When applied, the alcohol goes to work killing bacteria and hampering the ability of viruses to efficiently infect the body. There is much buzz about the potential of hand sanitizer to provide an efficient, clean and simple way to get children to clean their hands often. However, whether hand sanitizers will see widespread use in schools is by no means certain.

Why Hand Sanitizer is Effective

• Hand sanitizer kills germs by penetrating the cell wall and damaging vital proteins. These proteins become denatured, meaning that they can no longer serve their function of maintaining the cell wall. Once this occurs, the internal components of the bacterium are free to leak out. These components, known as organelles, are analogous to human organs. Therefore, the bacterium cannot survive long once the cell membrane is breached.

Hand Sanitizer Prevalence in Schools

• Though hand sanitizer is an effective method of killing bacteria on hands, school districts have been slow to provide hand sanitizer in bathrooms and cafeterias. This is due in part to funding issues and also to concerns voiced by parents. In a recent study conducted on 10 school districts, hand sanitizer was supplied to 15 percent of school cafeterias and 1.5 percent of bathrooms.

Effects on Absenteeism

• There is research that suggests that the use of hand sanitizer in schools can lower the rates of absenteeism in elementary school aged children. One such study involved five school districts, and it showed a 19.8 percent reduction in absenteeism due to infection. The study required students and teachers to sanitize their hands when entering and leaving the classroom. This study, and those like it, suggests that absenteeism can be greatly reduced by the use hand sanitizers containing alcohol.

Possible Health Risks to Children

• There have been more than a few incidents reported in which a preschool or elementary school aged child has been rushed to the emergency room due to consumption of hand sanitizer. In one such case, a young girl licked the liquid off of her hand instead of rubbing it in, resulting in intoxication. Hand sanitizers contain around 67 percent alcohol. Given the size of a young child, and the concentration of alcohol, these cleaning agents potentially can be extremely dangerous and should be stored out of reach of children.