Why You Shouldn't Use The Hand Dryer

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A recent study could make you change your hygiene habits forever in public toilets as air dryers have been found to spread bacteria of various kinds, including fecal matter.

The experiment was conducted by the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, which analyzed 36 public toilets in its own facilities.

The scientists exposed trays to just 30 seconds under the blast dryer and compared them to trays simply exposed to toilet air. There they discovered that in the trays exposed to the dryers there were between 18 and 60 colonies of bacteria, a much greater quantity than the plates not exposed to these devices.

The theory now is that automatic toilets, when activated, expel bacteria, including faeces, into the air and these end up in the dryers that, when activated, spread these microorganisms in those who use them.

The results indicate that many types of bacteria, including potentially pathogens and spores, can be deposited on exposed hands in bathroom hand dryers and that spores could spread through buildings and be deposited on hands by dryers,”said the study, revealed by Newsweek magazine.

"The bacteria in the bathrooms are going to come with fecal matter, which can be spread slightly in the air when the toilets, especially the toilets without a lid, are activated," explained Peter Setlow, one of the producers of the study.

The results are consistent with another famous study conducted a couple of years ago by the University of Leeds in England, which also showed that turbo and jet dryers spread germs in the environment and in their users.

Either way, Setlow said the University of Connecticut has placed paper towels in all of its bathrooms for now. Just in case.