Article: AN IN VITRO ANTIBACTERIAL STUDY OF NIMBADI ARKA: A NON-ALCOHOL BASED HERBAL HAND SANITIZER

Article Category: Original Research articles

DOI: 10.7897/2277-4343.130351

Pages: 21-26

Author: Bhoomika R, Prasanna Kulkarni *, Priyanka BV, Kiran M. Goud

Abstract: Hand hygiene is crucial as it gets contaminated easily from direct contact with airborne microorganism droplets and droplet nuclei from coughs and sneezes. In situations like a pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, it is imperative to interrupt the transmission chain of the pathogens by the practice of proper hand sanitization. It can be achieved with contact isolation and strict infection control tools like maintaining good hand hygiene in the house, in hospital settings, and in public. The success of hand sanitization solely depends on practical hand disinfecting agents formulated in various types and forms, such as antimicrobial soaps and water-based or alcohol-based hand sanitiser, with the latter being widely used in hospital settings and by common people. Most effective hand sanitiser products are alcohol-based formulations containing 62%–95% of alcohol as they can denature the proteins of microbes and the ability to inactivate pathogens. Considering the need, we prepared five herbal hand sanitizers in Arka form using drugs of krimighna gana dravyas that have an antimicrobial property and are volatile. Among all the five preparations, it was noticed from the statistical analysis, that there was a significant reduction in the bacterial count in the ‘immediate application’ of Batch I (Tulsi Arka), and Batch II (Tulsi, Nimba Arka) showed a significant decrease in the bacterial count in ‘after 30 minutes of application’. However, Batch III (Tulsi, Nimba, Haridra arka) gave an intermediate result in ‘immediate application’ and ‘after 30 minutes of application’. None of the preparations showed any sort of irritation, dryness or discomfort to the subjects even after 30 minutes while conducting the study.

Keyword: Hand Sanitization, Ayurveda, Arka, Distillation, Colony-forming unit, Anti-microbial action.