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Comment by commandlinefan | Hacker News Reader

I worry about overuse of hand sanitizer creating antibiotic resistant "superbugs" as we've been told for decades... but I sure as hell can't go to a gas station or a grocery store without washing my hands with hand sanitizer any more. I feel like I can see the germs now.

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I've never encountered a hand sanitizer with antibiotics in it. They're alcohol-based, and kill bacteria by destroying their cellular membrane and screwing up proteins inside organisms that absorb it. They're not going to cause antibiotic resistance.

There have existed hand sanitizer formulations containing Triclosan or BZK instead of alcohol, although those compounds are more commonly used in anti-bacterial soaps. Triclosan was particularly controversial because of its potential to cause antibiotic resistance and also for being an endocrine disruptor. During the second half of the last decade, its usage was widely restricted by regulatory agencies and it was phased out of a ton of consumer products.

I thought that it wasn't possible for pathogens to develop resistance to alcohol based sanitizers, but apparently I was wrong.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.aar6115

Not the same phenomena as antibiotic resistance, which is a bigger problem, but apparently this is a thing.

Proper sanitizer - e.g. alcohol with ~70% concentration - is as close to "resistance-proof" as is possible. There's never been any indication of adaptations at that level, it's just too destructive to bacterial cells. Avoid the "alcohol-free" sanitizers since they rely on other chemicals to achieve the same effect but go crazy with the alcohol-based ones.

>I worry about overuse of hand sanitizer creating antibiotic resistant "superbugs" as we've been told for decades...

That's not a concern with hand sanitizer. Hand sanitizer is alcohol-based, not antibiotic based. Alcohol denatures proteins in germs, antibiotics are more biological (IIRC).

It's akin to building up an immunity to iocane vs building up an immunity to being shot

Good to know, since I’m pretty set with this habit now.

Washing your hands after being in a public place is fine, you're not going to create antibiotic resistance with simple hygiene. If you're using hand sanitizer dozens of times a day that's a different story (mostly because it's going to do a number on your skin).

Since you’ve adopted the practice, do you notice yourself getting sick less?

I don’t use sanitizer especially often, but I’ve definitely noticed a general, society-wide uptick in being cognizant of germs and cleanliness. I don’t have any figures to back it up, though I’d be curious to see them if they exist, but I definitely notice myself getting sick (cold or flu) _way_ less often, in fact, I think it’s just been once since the pandemic began. Maybe I’m just being optimistic, but I think a lot of the habits we picked up during Covid will serve us positively in the future as well.

Agreed. I also like seeing more sanitizer dispensers when I go in grocery stores or other places where I'm going to touch things many other people touch. Use it on the way in to not spread things to others, then on the way out to not take theirs home. Even better when they provide wipes for cart handles.

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