Side effects of chlorine solutions used for hand hygiene
Citation: Kubilay Z, Hopman J, Allen T, Edrees H, Allegranzi B. Skin side effects of chlorine solutions used for hand hygiene: a systematic review. Antimicrobial resistance and infection control. 2015 Dec 1;4(S1):P9.
Summary: A literature search on the potential for chlorine solutions (CS) to cause skin side effects when used for hand hygiene (HH) found 14 relevant articles but only one report described allergic contact dermatitis related to the use of high concentration CS for HH.
A heterogeneous range of articles (10 case reports, 3 surveys and one comparative study) gave evidence of skin reactions with CS (mostly sodium hypochlorite, SH) used for disinfection and for domestic cleaning. Very low quality evidence shows that SH used for other purposes might cause skin irritations even at low concentrations on bare skin.