Effects of Different Kinds of Hand Sanitizers on Complete Blood Count and Leukocyte Differential Count

Background: To explore the effects of different contents and types of hand sanitizers on the complete blood count and leukocyte differential count. Methods: EDTA anticoagulant whole blood samples of healthy individuals were selected, and were treated with 75% alcohol, liquid hand sanitizer, and gel hand sanitizer. The samples were detected by the Sysmex automatic blood analyzer, and the capillary blood smear was prepared. The appearance of cells was examined under the microscope. Results: The absolute lymphocyte count, MCV, MCHC, and HGB were significantly increased, while PLT and MCH were significantly decreased after adding 1 mu L 75% alcohol (p < 0.05). By adding 1 mu L liquid hand sanitizer, the absolute counts of lymphocyte, neutrophil and basophilic, MCHC, HGB, and PLT were significantly increased (p < 0.05). The results of WBC, MCHC and HGB were significantly increased when 1 mu L gel hand sanitizer was added. The classification of leukocytes was obviously abnormal and could not be detected by the instrument. The effect of gel hand sanitizer on WBC was time-dependent. Pyknotic, karyorrhexis, and karyolysis of nuclei were observed under microscope. Conclusions: Three kinds of hand sanitizers had effects on complete blood counts and leukocyte differential counts, in particular, gel hand sanitizer has the greatest impact on the results of tests. Therefore, gel hand sanitizer is not suitable for hand disinfection of operators before the collection of capillary blood samples.