Health Care

Hand Disinfection

The act of cleansing the hands with water or other liquid, with or without the inclusion of soap or other detergent, for the purpose of destroying infectious microorganisms.

National Library of MedicineMedical Subject Headings2026

Structured Summary

Abstract

The act of cleansing the hands with water or other liquid, with or without the inclusion of soap or other detergent, for the purpose of destroying infectious microorganisms.

MeSH Record

Classification

Broader headings

Related Concepts

Knowledge Graph

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MeSH Record

See Also

MeSH Record

Synonyms

10 entry terms
  • Disinfection, Hand
  • Hand Sanitization
  • Hand Washing
  • Handwashing
  • Scrubbing, Surgical
  • Surgical Scrubbing
  • Hand Washings
  • Sanitization, Hand
  • Washing, Hand
  • Washings, Hand

MeSH Record

Aspects Covered

5 allowable subheadings

Indexed with the subheadings economics, instrumentation, methods, standards, trends.

MeSH Record

History Note

2013 (1982)

MeSH Record

Previous Indexing

  • Cross Infection/prevention & control (1966-1981)
  • Disinfection (1975-1981)
  • Sterilization (1966-1974)

MeSH Hierarchy

Tree Number

  1. N06.850w.670w.150w.500

AMA Style

References

  1. National Library of Medicine. Hand Disinfection. Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). 2026. Unique ID D006235. http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/2026/D006235
  2. Hand Disinfection. In: Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q70373167