Expert Tips

In March, the new EN 17430:2024 standard for assessing the virucidal activity of hygienic handrub products was published. The standard is relevant for hand disinfection in medically indicated areas such as patient care in hospitals, community medical facilities, dental institutions, clinics of schools, kindergartens and nursing homes, and can occur in the workplace and the home. Also of relevance are the facilities supplying products to the patient, such as kitchens and laundries.

The test method is a phase 2, step 2 test engaging 18-22 volunteers to simulate the practical conditions for establishing whether the test handrub product reduces the release of virus contamination on hands when rubbed onto the artificially contaminated hands of volunteers.  

The test procedure is conducted at a specified room temperature and uses murine norovirus (strain S99 Berlin) as the test virus. The contact time (total rubbing time) must be between 30 s – 60 s and the test result must not be inferior to the results of the reference hygienic handrub (70% vol. concentration of ethanol).  

One of two levels of virucidal claims are possible upon passing the requirements of EN 17430; virucidal activity, or limited spectrum virucidal activity; however, to claim either of these, the product must also pass the Standard EN 14476 with the relevant organisms.  

For hygienic handrub products, this test method complements the EN 1500 Standard available for assessing the bactericidal activity of hygienic handrubs (phase 2, step 2) and the EN 14476 quantitative suspension test for the evaluation of virucidal activity in the medical area (phase 2, step 1).