解説Hand desinfection test with blood agar plate.jpg
Microbial growth on a blood agar plate without any procedure (sector A), after washing hands (sector B), and after disinfecting hands with alcohol (sector C).
The picture shows substancial differences in the amount of microbes and microbial species on fingers after hand disinfection with alcohol. In the first sector A, fingers were gently pressed on the agar plate to show the normal microbial flora on the hands. The hands were washed with water and soap, and pressed on sector B. Fewer microbes and microbe species grow on the plate after the hand washing procedure. Then the hands were desinfected with 70 - 80 % alcohol, and pressed on sector C. The amount of microbes and microbe species have decreased radically in this simple test showing the importance of hand desinfection.
The plate was incubated for 24 hours to allow microbial growth to an extent where their colonies become visible. During this incubation the agar layer cracked slightly, this has no significance for the results.
Picture edited to hide cracks on the agar. The agar cracked slightly during the incubation. However, this slight cracking won't probably have any influence on the results.
{{Information |Description=Microbial growth on a blood agar plate without any procedure (sector A), after washing hands (sector B), and after desinfecting hands with alcohol (sector C). |Source=self-made |Date=December 12th, 2007 |Author= [[User:Pöllö|P