What Purell Says about Ability to Kill MRSA

In a call from the owner of a jan/san company in NC, I was told that he was told that Purell nor any other alcohol-based hand sanitizer actually kills MRSA---and he wanted to know more about alcohol-free products. I was admittedly a bit stumped, as the content on Purell's website SEEMS to suggest that it does. On a downloaded .pdf from the Purell website--the FAQ includes the following:


What types of hand sanitizers are effective against MRSA?
The CDC and other public health organizations state very clearly to use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

I was intrigued about the wording of the answer..after all-its otherwise passing the buck to the CDC's generic and 12-year old comment that had nothing to do with the question about MRSA specifically. So I phoned Johnson&Johnson's Purell subsidiary and spoke to a nice fellow named Dave Hicks.

I specifically asked if Purell kills MRSA. He said "well, the CDC says..." and then I stopped him and said..."Just tell me if there is documentation that says Purell (GOJO) tested for the ability to kill MRSA."
His response? "Well, we're regulated by the FDA and the CDC, and there are certain things we can't say...but I'm going to send you our corporate policy comment and that should answer your question." David then sent me a document that displayed a 2001 independent lab study that listed a few dozen pathogens, including staphylococcus aureus (methilin resistant) or MRSA. According to David, "the interpretation of the report is that Purell can protect against MRSA, but it doesn't kill MRSA."

So this means that if you apply it, and come into contact with MRSA before the Purell dries in your hand, it will act as a defensive shield. He reminded me that Purell dries in a matter of seconds, and then its no longer active in killing germs.