Making hand hygiene visible: a simple laboratory exercise using soil to demonstrate spore-forming bacteria control

Spore-forming bacteria are widely distributed in the environment and present a major challenge in healthcare settings due to their resistance to alcohol-based disinfectants. Understanding this resistance is essential for infection control education, especially in medical fields. Here, we propose a simple, low-cost laboratory exercise that combines hand hygiene training with a visual demonstration of microbial persistence using soil as a source of spore-forming bacteria. In this exercise, students imprint their hands on agar plates under three conditions: unwashed, soap-washed, and alcohol-disinfected. After 48 h of incubation, the plates reveal clear differences in microbial growth, highlighting the limited efficacy of alcohol-based sanitizers against spores. Gram staining of colonies provides presumptive evidence of the presence of spore-forming bacteria. This exercise addresses a common misconception among healthcare trainees-that alcohol sanitizers provide complete protection-and emphasizes the importance of proper handwashing with soap and water. Its simplicity, safety, and strong visual impact make it an effective and adaptable tool for microbiology education and healthcare professional training.