Last updated at 15:45 17 August 2007

Anti-bacterial hand washes are no better at cleaning your hands than ordinary soaps and may actually encourage some superbugs, scientists have warned.

Researchers have completed the first known comprehensive analysis of whether anti-bacterial washes work better than plain soaps.

The U.S team found the anti-bacterial soap was no more effective at removing bacteria during hand washing than the plain variety. It was also no more effective in preventing infectious illness and did not clear bugs such as E.coli.

They found the way the main active ingredient in many antibacterial soaps - triclosan - reacts in the cells, may cause some bacteria to become resistant to commonly used antibiotics such as Amoxicillin.

Resistance to common antibiotics is a feature of superbugs, such as MRSA, which are plaguing UK hospitals. However triclosan is used in higher concentrations in hospitals than in supermarket soaps.

Research leader Allison Aiello from Michigan University said: "We need to be aware of what's in the products. The soaps containing triclosan used in the community setting are no more effective than plain soap at preventing infectious illness symptoms, as well as reducing bacteria on the hands."

The study, 'Consumer Antibacterial Soaps: Effective or Just Risky?' appears in the August edition of Clinical Infectious Diseases. It looked at 27 previous studies conducted between 1980 to 2006.