The research, which has received almost $800,000 in Health Research Council funding, involves 15,000 primary school pupils in 68 schools in Dunedin, Christchurch and Invercargill, half of whom will use hand sanitiser twice-daily at school.
Study co-ordinator Lesley Reeves said some parents, at the beginning of the study which began last term, raised some concerns about participation, but that seemed to have stopped.
Parents were able to withdraw their children from the study if they wished.
The researchers also found some of their 34 control schools, which were not designated to use the sanitiser, had introduced sanitisers because of the swine flu outbreak.
Their action was understandable.
"That's life. It's part of being in a big study."
Ms Reeves said the research, which involves children using hand sanitiser from an automatic dispenser before going to morning play or lunch during the two winter terms, was going well.
Some older children had complained about the residue a particular brand of sanitiser left on their skin, as they said they could taste it on their sandwiches.
This could have been partly due to the way they used the product, and would be rectified by the introduction of a replacement sanitiser.
The project is not being sponsored by any sanitising product maker.
Sanitisers were chosen for the project because it would have been difficult to monitor hand washing and drying and ensure consistency.
The use of alcohol-based sanitisers is expected to be in addition to usual hand washing practice by the children, and this was emphasised at hand cleanliness sessions held before the study began.
A year 2 and year 3 teacher at St Clair School, Maxine Karl, said pupils in her class would remind her about the sanitiser routine if she forgot to tell them.
She was also daily reinforcing other measures to reduce the spread of infection, including coughing into your elbow, using tissues and disposing of them properly.
Ms Reeves said about 2500 randomly-selected children forced by illness to be absent from school would also be followed up, to gather information from their families about the economic impact of children being home sick.
Findings from the study are not expected until early next year.
