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Hot-Air Dryers Suck In Nasty Bathroom Bacteria, Shoot Them At Your Hands (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the brutal-blowout dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Hot-air dryers suck in bacteria and hardy bacterial spores loitering in the bathroom -- perhaps launched into the air by whooshing toilet flushes -- and fire them directly at your freshly cleaned hands, according to a study published in the April issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The authors of the study, led by researchers at the University of Connecticut, found that adding HEPA filters to the dryers can reduce germ-spewing four-fold. However, the data hints that places like infectious disease research facilities and healthcare settings may just want to ditch the dryers and turn to trusty towels. Indeed, in the wake of the blustery study -- which took place in research facility bathrooms around UConn -- "paper towel dispensers have recently been added to all 36 bathrooms in basic science research areas in the UConn School of Medicine surveyed in the current study," the authors note. The researchers speculated that "one reason hand dryers may disperse so many bacteria is the large amount of air that passes through hand dryers, 19,000 linear feet/min at the nozzle. The convection generated by high airflow below the hand dryer nozzles could also draw in room air."

2 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Always suspected this. by whoever57 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think that the Dyson dryers are the worst. There is usually a small pool of water in the device, just ideal for bacteria to grow in, then the air blows, potentially taking tiny droplets of this bacteria-infected water into your face.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
  2. not really new news by chromaexcursion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Various studies have been published on this in the past few years.
    The "sanitary" air driers are anything but. The more powerful they are the worse they are.
    A little wasteful, but paper is better. If people wouldn't use far more than is necessary to dry their hands it would be less wasteful.
    The small waste of paper is far less that one what's used to treat one person's infection.
    Pay me now, or pay me later. Paper towels are less wasteful.