Next time you’re in a public restroom and thinking about using a hot air dryer to dry your hands, you might want to reconsider. This is because, according to a study by the University of Connecticut, in the United States, these devices may be covering freshly washed hands with various bacteria. According to , researchers carried out an experiment using Petri dishes to measure the presence of bacteria in bathrooms, under different conditions, and the results were revealing.
You can read in the Harvard School of Public Health article, “Petri dishes exposed to bathroom air for two minutes, with hand dryers turned off, showed only one bacterial colony or none at all.” However, when the boxes were exposed to hot air from dryers for 30 seconds, scientists saw the growth of 254 colonies of bacteria. On average, most boxes had between 18 and 60 bacterial colonies.
Renée Onque, a doctor, recommends on CNBC some safer ways to dry your hands after washing: using paper towels, and avoiding air jet dryers, which are associated with the spread of germs. Experts warn that this care is especially relevant for those who frequent hospitals or have weakened immune systems, although they emphasize that “direct contact with other people is a more common form of transmission for pathogens”.
And where do the bacteria spread by dryers come from? According to researchers, the main source is toilets. They placed air particle filters in the dryers, reducing bacterial growth by 75%. However, the study showed that most microbes come from contaminated bathroom air.
“Every time a toilet without a lid is flushed, a cloud of droplets and aerosols containing microbes is formed,” explains John Ross, professor at Harvard University. These particles make up the so-called “fecal cloud”, which can spread over more than six square meters, increasing the risk of contamination.
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