Scientists have establish that sure hand dryers are in all probability creditworthy for float bacterium all over bathrooms , score a breaker point for the paper towel industriousness in an never-ending war of cleanliness .
The study from the University of Connecticut was published in the journalApplied and Environmental Microbiology . While hand dryers are generally less expensive and more environmentally well-disposed than theme towels , they incur that hot air dryer could be coating your deal with bacterium when you turn them on .
To make their determination , the team survey 36 lav at the University of Connecticut using agar plates with gelled bacterium food . They used these to gather sample when the hot - air dryers were turn on and off .
“ In the still bathrooms , the researchers caught an norm of zero to one bacterial landings per plate , ” notedArs Technica . “ When they left the plate subject for 18 hours , that mean leapt to six colony per plate . But in the line of fire from the blowers for 30 second base , the plate collected averages from 18 to 60 , with a chain as mellow as 254 depending on the toilet . ”
They even found that the dryers were spreading a bacterium calledBacillus subtilis(B. subtilis ) , strain PS533 , from a nearby lab . The bacteria was dispersed as spores , which seemed to expand in the high temperatures of the hand dryer ’s breeze .
pretty worryingly , they also suggest that the bacteriumClostridium difficile(C. difficile ) , known for cause deadly bout of diarrhea , could be spread in a interchangeable way , plainly by the flushing of a toilet .
“ I do n’t dry my hand on hand drier anymore , specially if I go into bathrooms in airdrome or bus stations , ” the senior author on the paper , Peter Setlow , toldConnecticut Public Radio .
“ The safety issue is very , very small . But it is there . I ’d care to keep the bacterium that are n’t mine from getting on me . Simple as that . "
It ’s the latest turn in the tale for the ongoing dryer vs. towel argument . Previously , the paper towel industriousness hascome to blowswith Dyson , recognize for its atmosphere leaf blade drier ( which were not discussed in this study ) , and have even been criminate oftainting studies .
There does n’t seem to be any foul play here , but it does seem to score a point for paper towels , so who knows . mayhap the conspiracy goes deep than you think .
