by Freedom00 on November 6th, 2009

Freedom00

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Why does hand sanitizer say it kills 99% of germs? What kind of germs does it not work against?

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Answers. 13 helpful answers below.

  • by Aksafari on November 6th, 2009

    Aksafari

    There are some bacteria so hardy that alcohol does not kill them. PLUS, there are little crevices and cracks in your skin that are not reached by the sanitizer. There's always something left alive...

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  • by Abdullah on November 7th, 2009

    Abdullah

    :)
    There are no bacteria couldn't killed by the hand sanitizer, but actuly noone can tell if your hand are really germs free ! so it's not exact thing in some cases you may killed 100% of germs sometimes you didn't kill more than 60% nothing is ceirten !

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  • by Sarah M on November 6th, 2009

    Sarah M

    OK, I wont be sleeping tonight.

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  • by tet1023 on May 18th, 2010

    tet1023

    Some bacteria produce very tough, resistant dormant structures called endospores. They resist heat, chemicals, disinfectants, alcohol, and many other insults including the chemicals in sanitizers. They are basically a survival mechanism that bacteria produce in response to stressful situations (low nutrients, unfavorable environmental conditions, etc.). They can be dormant for a year, 10 years, even a hundred or thousands of years, and then germinate when appropriate environmental conditions arise. The bacteria that produce these spores, or morel ikely the spores themselves, are what is not killed by sanitizers, and why they have to say they kill 99% of the germs - because it's nearly impossile to kill spores.

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  • by jimenkiam on April 7th, 2010

    jimenkiam

    i wouldn't use hand sanitizer if i were you. when you use hand sanitizer, the bacteria that you kill come back stronger and stronger. so after a while, the hand sanitizer doesn't affect them. that's why i don't use hand sanitizer. i just use good old soap and water.

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  • by Leftie4068 on January 15th, 2010

    Leftie4068

    There is a company called Tristel that provide most of the UK hospitals with a disinfectant that kills all superbugs. It's non-toxic and is easy and safe to use. It kills everything the normal disinfectants kill plus bacterial spores. C. diff is a major problem for hospitals and that is a sporillating bacteria.

    Tristel have just made their products available to the public at www.tristelathome.com

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  • by Thriftymaid on November 8th, 2009

    Thriftymaid

    I've never seen a product that claims to kill 100% of germs; that's just asking for legal trouble.

    Whatever germ you had trouble with -- that's the one 1%

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  • by Anonymous on November 8th, 2009

    Anonymous

    It's marketing babble, and has nothing to do with science. Just ignore it- it doesn't mean anything. It's just there to get you to buy the product. That's all.

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  • by pedal junky on November 7th, 2009

    pedal junky

    1%-ers

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  • by j ninja... on November 7th, 2009

    j ninja...

    Ya just can't kill these little bugger's. :(

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  • by Moongrim on November 7th, 2009

    Moongrim

    That's just marketing talk.

    If they said 100% of germs there'd be some nutjob out there all set to sue them for false reprsentation if they found even one germ still alive afterwards.

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  • by tet1023 on May 18th, 2010

    tet1023

    Share your answer...

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  • by tet1023 on May 18th, 2010

    tet1023

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