Does hand sanitizer really kills 99.99 percent of germs?

Answer 1

Hand sanitizer in an antiseptic often employing the use of alcohol. Antiseptics are mainly used on skin or living surfaces so they are not as strong of a disinfectant as other sterilants. Mostly antiseptics are bacteriostatic meaning that they prevent the bacteria from being able to multiply on surfaces. However, they don't actually kill the already exisiting bacteria. In this way most bacteria already found on the hands are not killed but they won't multiply on the hands once hand sanitizer has been used.