Introduction
Hands are regarded as a major source of transmitting infection.It has been estimated that there are not less than 10000 organisms per cm2 of normal skin. This include both nonpathogenic resident flora as well as pathogenic transient flora(Carter et al., 2000). On the other hand, health care-associated infections constitute one of the greatest challenges of modern medicine (Mathur, 2011). Pandemic and avian influenza are known to be transmitted via human hands (Pickering et al., 2011). Hands contamination also causes a number of episodes of illness for the majority of the registered symptoms with the strongest effects for common cold, coughing, fever, and dirrahoea (Hubner et al., 2010).
Furthermore, The term 'nosocomial infection' has now been changed to 'healthcare-associated infection' (HCAI) in most sources. An HCAI is an infection that occurs within a hospitalisation period because of exposure to a microorganism during medical procedures (Mayhall, 2004). These infections are a serious problem in hospitals because they have significant morbidity and mortality rates associated with them and treatment can be difficult because of bacterial resistance to antibiotics (Asl Soleymani 2000). The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there are 1.8 million nosocomial infections per year and 20,000 deaths which can be directly attributable to these infections (CDC 2002). As a lot of healthcare tasks are carried out using our hands, they can be responsible for the inadvertent transmission of microorganisms to the patients. Semmel Weis in the 19th century enforced the washing of hands thoroughly as an easy way to reduce or remove microorganisms of the skin (Masoomi Asl et al 2006). One of the most simple and effective methods for the prevention of the spread of microorganisms is hand washing; the CDC (2002) suggests that 30% of HCAIs can be prevented if proper