Science Gross Experiment Has People Swearing Off Hand Dryers For Life




A simple experiment involving hand dryers has gone viral over the last few days, with many people now committed to doing a Taylor Swift and shaking it off from now on.

The video from TikTok user @phonesoapshows the experimenter collecting bacteria samples by first waving a petri dish through the air to simulate drying your hands by shaking them, and then collecting samples from various different types of hand dryer.

The samples are then left to incubate for three days, to see what grows on there.

The dish simulating merely shaking your hands dry fared the best, with no visible growth – while hand dryers at a gas station produced the most bacterial growth. While not exactly a large-scale study, it was enough to swear people off hand dryers for good, with one user on TikTok describing them as "the wind of a thousand farts".

So, is there anything to this? Well, sorry but yes. Several studies from the University of Leeds School of Medicine have shown that hand dryers promote the spread of bacteria.

In one experiment, to simulate badly-washed hands, researchers contaminated people's hands with a harmless bacteria called Lactobacillus that's not normally found in bathrooms. They then dried their hands using jet hand dryers, warm air hand dryers, and paper towels. Samples were then taken from around the hand dryers and a short distance away. Levels of Lactobacillus in the air around jet air dryers were found to be 4.5 times higher than around warm air dryers, and a whole 27 times higher than around paper towel

“Next time you dry your hands in a public toilet using an electric hand dryer, you may be spreading bacteria without knowing it," Professor Mark Wilcox, who led the experiment, said in a statement. "You may also be splattered with bugs from other people’s hands."

In a follow-up study in hospitals in the UK, France, and Italy, the team placed jet hand dryers, hot air hand dryers, and paper towel dispensers in hospital bathrooms, at separate times over a 12-week period. They then measured bacteria levels while each of these hand-drying methods was in use.

“We found multiple examples of greater bacterial contamination on surfaces, including by faecal and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, when jet-air dryers rather than paper towels were in use," Wilcox said in a press release. "Choice of hand drying method affects how likely microbes can spread, and so possibly the risk of infection.”

Wilcox adds that the problem is that people do not wash their hands properly – though hopefully, this has changed since the stress placed on good hygiene at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When people use a jet-air dryer, the microbes get blown off and spread around the toilet room," he added.

“In effect, the dryer creates an aerosol that contaminates the toilet room, including the dryer itself and potentially the sinks, floor and other surfaces, depending on the dryer design and where it is sited. If people touch those surfaces, they risk becoming contaminated by bacteria or viruses."

Following the experiment, they recommended hospitals no longer use jet air dryers.
 
Valuable scientific work right there that I think could have been done by high school students and it's simply amazing that we've had hand dryers commonplace for decades.

You also have to take into account that literally every human being aside from feral creatures and the profoundly mentally retarded have washed and dried their hands. You should be able to grasp how to dry your hands with a paper towel. Using an air dryer is something people probably do a handful of times per year, so the chances that they don't adequately use the machine goes way up.
 
We need to go back to using these and see people really freak out:
antique-continuous-cloth-hand-towel.jpg
 
Valuable scientific work right there that I think could have been done by high school students and it's simply amazing that we've had hand dryers commonplace for decades.
thats boring and alot of work. normaly highschool students just take samples from around the bathroom. thats waaay more disgusting than this little experiment.


this experiment is also not super impressive to watch. i member from college a picture of a bathroom that was painted with glowing bacteria by a jet dryer,,,
 
They outright say the bacteria is a bacteria that literally does nothing but exist so like what the fuck is the problem? Shit's like dust mites I literally have no problem with the fuckers hitching a ride on me from the airdryer cause they're probably doing it already anyways. Yeah it also says you "MIGHT" get antibiotic resistant death disease type bacteria but like if that shit exists in your vicinity theres no way you're gonna avoid it airdryer or not.
 
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Same with air conditioning in hotels (esp. in shithole countries). These devices need proper maintenance to remain clean, and I have zero confidence that this maintenance is performed.
Maintained hotels for years and you are right.

Thankfully most VTAC and PTAC systems are the same and easy to service. When I go to a hotel and need AC, I open the fucker and service it myself before I use it.
 
Wait, they intentionally put bacteria on their hands, then they put their hands in front of a high speed fan, and then they reported the shocking results that the fan blew the bacteria around? Did I read that correctly?
In one experiment, to simulate badly-washed hands, researchers contaminated people's hands with a harmless bacteria called Lactobacillus that's not normally found in bathrooms. They then dried their hands using jet hand dryers, warm air hand dryers, and paper towels. Samples were then taken from around the hand dryers and a short distance away. Levels of Lactobacillus in the air around jet air dryers were found to be 4.5 times higher than around warm air dryers, and a whole 27 times higher than around paper towel
I apparently did.
 
Amateurs.

Mike Patton of Faith No More claims that he used to dismantle hotel hairdryers, place some of his shit inside, then reassemble them.

Whenever I read a story like this, I remember, back in the day when I worked for a hospital. Periodically, Infection Control would gather up some equipment in common use on wards, shake them out and swab them for bacteria.

On one computer keyboard, they found a combination of tinsel, kebab meat, and faecal matter.
 
This is why I always smash the button with my wet hands as I walk out of the restroom, gotta preload that air for the people in the stalls so they don't have to use the dryer to get sick. I personally just use my fucking shirt like a barbarian and avoid exposing myself to fecal bacteria that has gone aerial.
 
while hand dryers at a gas station produced the most bacterial growth.
Maybe the problem is that bathrooms of gas stations aren't precisely the cleanest?

While not exactly a large-scale study, it was enough to swear people off hand dryers for good,
I'm sure these people watching the videos are pro-science™ and compulsively sharing those pics of the new telescope.
 
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