CDC Recommendations for Antiseptic Soap

Dr. John M. Boyce and Dr. Didier Pittet explain in their article for the Center for Disease Control that the idea of using antiseptic soap for personal hand-hygiene and to prevent the spread of contagious diseases has been around since the 19th century.

Early Antiseptics

• During the 19th century, lime and chloride were added to liquid soaps to produce an antiseptic soap.

Evidence of Benefits

• The CDC reports that in 1847, after recommending that doctors wash their hands with a chlorine solution between autopsy and maternity patients, Ignaz Semmelweis noted a decline in the transmission of puerperal fever and a decline in patient death rates.

Hand Washing Training

• In the 1960s, the U.S. Health Department trained health care workers to wash their hands with regular soap and water and to only use antiseptics when a sink was unavailable.

First CDC Recommendations

• In 1975 and 1985, the CDC is reported to have recommended antimicrobial soap for regular hand washing and waterless antiseptics for use when water was unavailable.

Current Recommendations

• To promote hand hygiene and kill disease-carrying micro-organisms, the CDC currently recommends washing the hands for at least 15 seconds with antiseptic soap.