To Dry or Not to Dry
Generally speaking, most people usually wash their
hands after they use the restroom as part of their bathroom etiquette and
personal hygiene. However, what you may not know is that how you decide to dry
your hands after washing them may be contaminating them again, increasing the
number of bacteria present on your hands than before.
The way that a typical hand dryer functions is that it
has coils inside that heats air about 50 degrees warmer than the existing room
temperature and blows it out. The problem is that they also suck in air, so any
bacteria in the air will be sucked inside as well. Besides bacteria there are
also microbes that people brought with them into the room on their skin as well
as waste after someone uses and flushes a lidless toilet. Hand dryers can
redistribute bacteria from hands into the air, as well as contaminate newly
washed hands with bacteria. The types of microbes found included Bacillus
subtilis, a bacterium that inhabits the human gut, Staphylococcus aureus,
a common bacterium normally found in the gut but is associated with serious
infections, and many others. One way to reduce the number of bacteria being distributed
is to fit the hand dryer with a HEPA filter.
Don’t let this scare you from using a hand dryer
though, newer hand dryers are cleaner and spread less bacteria around. One dryer,
the Dyson Airblade was given an accreditation from the Royal Society for Public
Health. The other alternative is to dry your hands with paper towels. But regardless
of which method that you decide to use to dry your hands the more important
thing is how well you wash your hands. Besides, some germs can also boost your
immune system.
Sources: https://www.livescience.com/62257-bathroom-air-dryer-bacteria.html
https://www.plumbworld.co.uk/redring-mini-automatic-hand-19716-32991
Posted by: Trung Le (2)
I wonder if hang blow dryers help inoculate the body with bacteria? Would it give the body a test run for fighting pathogens? I can see why it would be bad if someone with a serious sickness coughed right near the blower before you used it but most bacteria people carry is benign.
ReplyDelete-Brooke Sullivan
It probably would, since this allows the immune system to remain somewhat active and prepare itself for far worse scenarios.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
Wow that's very interesting. I normally opt for paper towels if I can, even though it's the less environmentally friendly option. I never that that there would be a consequence with using a hand dryer, other than the fact that it takes longer for my hands to dry. Even though I never gave much thought to it, it makes sense that hand dryers could be expelling bacteria. Most bacteria isn't harmful, but reducing the chances would be great. Do you know if there's a standard for installing public hand dryers, like if it has to pass some sort of test that would determine if it's expelling out too much bacteria?
ReplyDelete- Angelina Weng (3)
If there is, then I am unaware of some kind of standard that a hand dryer has to pass for cleanliness. However, there is a standard for height since it has to meet disability standards.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
Personally, I hate using hand dryers in the bathroom. To begin with public bathrooms are filled with bacteria and germs. Therefore, all I can think about is the blow dryers just taking in all those germs and blowing them right back down onto your clean hands.
ReplyDeletePosted by Sarah Aboody (1)
That is the unfortunate truth with most hand dryers.They will reintroduce bacteria onto your hands. However this can be beneficial as it can strengthen your immune system, plus I try not to think too much about it whenever I use a hand dryer.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
Although I am against the environmental repercussions that come with drying my hands with tissues or paper towels, I am even more hesitant to use hand dryer machines because of the extremely high risk of contamination. I was only aware of this when I saw a study during which students took samples of bacteria from public restroom hand dryers and grew them in a culture. The results were astounding and almost looked too surreal. I hope that there is a more hygienic innovation to drying our hands that is also environmentally conscious.
ReplyDelete- Rund Tawfiq (3)
Hand dryers can be designed so that the air flow is better directed as to reduce the amount of bacteria recirculated around. I think with any method there will probably be some remnants of bacteria left.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
I never would have thought that hand driers would cause you to have bacteria back on your hands. I myself am not a fan of and driers and when I see that there are no paper towels it makes me cringe. Does the same concept work for hair driers or is there a different mechanism of how the air is filtered? Learning about this makes me think of all things that are driers and how bacteria is just sitting within them.
ReplyDelete- Tatiana Silveira (3)
Assuming that there is no filter, they should work on a similar concept with coils heating air that is sucked and then dispersed out. So if there is bacteria around and inside it then it can circulate bacteria around.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
I definitely see how the bacteria within hand driers conflict with the actual purpose of washing hands. But in a bathroom that is not sterile, wouldn't paper towels and any item in the room be just as prone to bacterial contamination? I wonder how the two compare? It would be interesting to see research studying the relationship between bacterial populations in the various hand-drying methods. In the end, I think that a filtered hand drier would definitely be the best method of resolving the issue of bacterial contamination of hand washing.
ReplyDeleteHarris Jackson (3)
You're probably correct since anything anywhere except in a sterile room is most likely covered in some layer of bacteria already. A filtered hand dryer can reduce the amount of bacteria spread.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
I have always thought of automatic hand dryers as being the most clean and efficient way of drying your hands after washing. It is interesting to see how these machines might not be the healthiest method of cleaning. I wonder if there is any way that is completely sanitary.
ReplyDeleteThe cleaner method of drying your hands probably would be with paper towels since there is little air movement so fewer to no bacteria at all are spread compared to dryers that can spread bacteria in many directions at once.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
I have read a few articles on this topic and also found it interesting that air dryers could possibly be doing more harm than good. Although we know air dryers are fulling capable of spreading harmful bacteria, is there any way to regulate the prevention methods in order to promote public health and safety?
ReplyDelete-Sunaina Sharma (3)
Newer hand dryers with filters can help eliminate the amount of bacteria spread as well as the direction that the air is facing. When the air is facing downwards the bacteria is directed towards the ground instead of dryers where the air is pointed sideways and upwards.
Delete-Trung Le (2)
I usually dry my hands if I have to take notes in class or something, but I never thought about how the air gets sucked in. If a hand dryer does suck in that much bacteria, does this mean we should resort to paper towels or just hand dry? Which one would be more environment friendly and efficient?
ReplyDelete-Catherine Tsang (3)
The more environmentally friendly option is the hand dryer since it does not require paper or generate waste and only requires some electricity. Hand dryers may spread bacteria around but for the normal healthy person some bacteria is fine since this can help strengthen the immune system.
ReplyDelete-Trung Le (2)
Interesting Article. Hoping that you will continue posting an article having a useful information. Dyson Airblade
ReplyDelete