Study: For Germ Protection, Soap Will Do

March 2 -- One hand may wash the other, but when it comes to preventing illness, you've got to wash both. And using regular soap to do it appears just as effective as using more expensive antibacterial cleanser.

That's according to researchers who followed 238 New York City families for a year and compared illness rates between families given antibacterial soaps, household cleaners, and laundry detergents, and families given comparable products without the antibacterial ingredients. Neither group knew which type of product they were using.

The results, published in the latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, found no significant difference between the two groups in the frequency of such symptoms as fever, cough, diarrhea and vomiting.

Why? Most illnesses are caused not by bacteria, but by viruses, against which antibacterial products offer no additional protection.

In fact, frequent washing with any type of cleanser will reduce your chances of getting sick. Lead researcher Dr. Elaine Larson, associate dean of research at the Columbia University School of Nursing in New York, notes, "There were much fewer bacteria on people's hands in both groups [compared to when the study started]."

Defending antibacterials was the Soap and Detergent Association, which noted "Antibacterial cleaning and personal care products do what they say they do: they kill harmful bacteria. This research focused on diseases caused by viruses, not bacteria."

Home vs. Hospital

But bacterial infections are a much greater problem in hospitals than they are in the home.

"Hand washing using antibacterial agents is crucial in certain settings — especially in the hospital or with patients that are at high-risk of becoming ill or are very ill already," says Dr. Lee Harrison, a professor in the division of infectious diseases, and director of the epidemiology unit and Public Health Infectious Diseases Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh.

Harrison adds, "That's very different than the home environment. There is no need to use these products in the home. Regular soap and water work perfectly well."