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More ecological than disposable towels and less dangerous than cloth towel rolls, automatic air-diffusing hand dryers have multiplied in sanitary facilities open to the public.
But are they any more hygienic? Unfortunately, the answer is no, as a user of the TikTok social network recently demonstrated in a video recounting his experiment (Source 1).
On his account called PhoneSoap, this Internet user regularly publishes videos aimed at testing the bacterial contamination of various everyday objects. recently, he has therefore set out to determine whether or not automatic hand dryers spread bacteria.
Equipped with sterile gains and petri dishes allowing bacterial culture, he placed the latter under several types of electric hand dryers, in various places. At the same time, he shook a petri dish in the ambient air of the room where the hand dryer was located, to make a “control” dish.
Bluffing, the result confirms that of recent studies on the subject: electric hand dryers, whether they diffuse hot air or pulsed air, are bacteria diffusers. All the petri dishes placed under the hand dryers saw colonies of bacteria emerge after three days of incubation, where no bacteria are visible on the control dishes, at least to the naked eye.
Published in December 2014 in the Journal of Hospital Infection (Source 2), a scientific study conducted by the University of Leeds (UK) had come to the same conclusion. “Jet air and hot air hand dryers lead to increased bacterial aerosolization when drying hands”, had written the researchers in their conclusion, estimating then these devices as being “unsuitable for use in healthcare facilities”, since being able to “facilitate microbial cross-contamination by airborne diffusion to the environment or restroom visitors”.
It would therefore be better to go back to the good old paper towel, disposable and recyclable, even if it means limiting its use to one sheet per person. Or let your hands air dry.
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