It’s not something you think twice about: you use the bathroom, you wash your hands and you dry them as quick as you can. But results of a recent lab test suggest hand dryers are doing more harm than good.
According to research out of the University of Connecticut, a number of germs and bacteria have been found in the hot air warming up your hands. Scientists found that hand dryers suck up nasty germs floating around in communal bathrooms including remnants of poop.
Alarmingly, researchers conducted the experiment in their own bathrooms. The scientists gained samples by placing a special plate in front of dryers in three separate bathrooms for 30 seconds. Staggeringly results showed between 18 to 60 types of bacteria present in the bathrooms.
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“These results indicate that many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers,” says the study authors.
“And…spores could be dispersed throughout buildings and deposited on hands by hand dryers.”
Comparing hair dryers to bathroom air, researchers found that after 20 minutes, the special plates were exposed to nearly 20 colonies of bacteria. However two minutes resulted in exposure to one type of bacteria.
Might be time to install a paper towel dispenser?
