Overview
ERADICIL should always be used in combination with treatments for the specific infection. If in doubt about an appropriate treatment for the infection, ask your pharmacist or doctor.
ERADICIL is used as an added help to specific treatments for topical (on the skin surface) or systemic (spread throughout the body) diseases. It can help to prevent cross-infection between individuals (for example family members) and self re-infection via the patient’s own infected clothing, towels and bed linen. The most common infections that would be killed in the laundry by pre-washing with ERADICIL are:-
- athlete's foot
- vaginal thrush
- fungal nail infections
- impetigo
- ringworm
- dhobie/jock itch
How many people suffer from such skin infections in the UK?
| Disease |
Lifetime exposure |
Number currently suffering (one-off and multiple attacks) |
Minimum number of 'continuous sufferers' |
| Athlete's foot |
48.5 million1 |
9 to 15.1 million2,3 |
<9 million |
| Vaginal thrush |
23.25 million4 |
5.4 million5 |
150,0006 |
| Fungal nail infections |
2.5 to 12.5 million6 |
1,500,0001 |
1,200,0007 |
The advice that healthcare providers give to suffers of topical skin infections is to avoid sharing clothes, towels and bed linen and to change clothes, particularly socks and underwear, daily. The germs that cause many skin infections live on moist surfaces and can be transmitted from an infected person to members of the same household through primary or secondary contact.8 By controlling the microbial growth in the laundry, transmission of the infection can be reduced.8 Many skin infection treatments do bring short term results, but re-infection can re-occur because fungi and bacteria spread through infected skin scales that are subsequently found clinging to clothes - particularly socks and underwear.
ERADICIL effectively disinfects, killing bacteria and fungi in the clothes and washing machine, even at today’s popular, economy washing temperatures (≤40°C). It is used in domestic and commercial laundries both as part of the treatment of an established (known) infection and as a prevention against the spread of infections amongst families or groups of people who share laundry facilities.
1 Porche PJ. Tinea Pedis: A Common Male Foot Problem. J Nurse Pract. 2006; 2:issue 3:152-3
2 Crawford F. Athlete’s foot. Br Med J Clin Evid. 2006;11:1712
3 Aste N, Pau M et al. Tinea pedis observed in Cagliari, Italy, between 1996 and 2000. Mycoses 2003;46:38–41.
4 Ferre J. Vaginal candidosis: epidemiological and etiological factors. Int J Gynaecol Obst. 2000;71 Suppl 1:S21-7
5 Fungal Diseases in the UK – Report of a working group of the HPA Advisory Committee for Fungal Infection and Superficial Parasites. London: Health Protection Agency April 2006
6 Pierard G. Onychomycosis and other superficial fungal infections of the foot in the elderly: a pan-European survey. Dermatology 2001;202:220-4.
7 Robers DT. Prevalence of dermatophyte onychomycosis in the UK: results of an omnibus survey. Br J Dermatol 1992;126 (suppl 39): 23-7
8 Fijan S et al. Antimicrobial disinfection effect of a laundering procedure. Diagn Microbiol Infect Di. 2006;Mar;57(3):251-7