Is it true that in a public toilet to wipe your hands with paper towels is more hygienic than using a dryer?

There is an opinion that hand dryers in public restrooms is a nursery of harmful microbes, and the use of paper towels is a safer choice. We decided to check if this is so.

Many media reports that it is better to avoid hand dryers in public toilets (for example, “Russian newspaper","Gazeta.ru"And the TV channel"World"), As well Portalsdedicated motherhood And hygiene. Recommends making a choice in favor of paper towels and Russian Rospotrebnadzor. Pros and cons of two ways to remove moisture from hand after washing and users are discussing social networks And Platform blog. Sheldon Cooper, a panicky microbes character of the series "Theory of the Big Bang", He saidthat the use of dryers is even less hygienic than if Gibbon infected with a plague sneezed in his hands.

Bacteria are transmitted faster from the surrounding human objects through wet skin than through dry, so experts say that drying of the hands is the same integral part hygieneLike their washing. The hand dryers are divided into two main types: with hot air (those under which you need to substitute your hands) and jet (those where the palms need to be lowered into the apparatus). So that the hands are dry, in the first case It will be required about 45 seconds, in the second you can cope with Faster - in just 10 seconds, the use of paper towels will take about the same amount of time. However, often people do not have enough patience to carefully dry their hands. So, scientists During the observations of public restorations, the Osland University (New Zealand) recorded that men on average spend 17 seconds on the use of dryers, and 3.5 seconds on paper towels, women - 13.3 and 5.2 seconds. respectively. So in this regard, inkjet dryers, which can cope with moisture in 10 seconds, are presented with a preferred choice. But if you still dry your hands as expected, then the conclusions may differ slightly.

So, scientists from the University of Westminster (Great Britain) published in 2008 studywhere they studied the effectiveness and hygiene of the use of several types of paper towels, as well as dryers - jet and with hot air. In the course of studying samples taken from the skin of people who participated in the experiment, it turned out that the use of paper towels reduces the number of bacteria remaining on the palms after washing, while both types of dryers increase. The largest number of bacteria was found after drying with hot air. At the same time, scientists say, dryers not only increased the number of bacteria on their hands, but also “sprayed” them at a distance of 2 m around. However, the study was conducted one and a half years ago, and it is possible that during this time the mechanisms of the dryers became more advanced and, accordingly, slightly more hygienic.

However, ten years later to conclusion A group of researchers from the UK, Italy and France also came to the greater safety of paper towels. For 12 weeks, they took samples in restrooms of three hospitals located in these countries. It turned out that where holders with paper towels were installed, the concentration of microbes in the air and on the surfaces was significantly lower than where visitors were offered to use jet dryers. 

Even study, which was carried out in 2010 with the financial support of Dyson - one of the key manufacturers of jet handing dryers - confirmed that paper towels are more effective for removing microbes left after washing. Researchers note that this is probably due to the physical removal of bacteria from the skin due to friction.

"Checked" already It wrote The fact that when washing off the toilet with an open lid, bacteria from it scatter through the bathroom and settle on all available surfaces, including, probably, on paper towels sticking out of the holder. Nevertheless, in 2018, a group of researchers from the University of Connecticut (USA) held experiment: They investigated the number of bacteria in public restrooms, leaving Petri's cups in different places of the toilet, as well as placing them under a stream of hot air in hand dryers. A significantly larger number of bacteria was found in those containers that were in the dryers. Most of them were not dangerous for a person, but those that could seriously harm health were found. Moreover, the filters built into the dryer reduced the number of bacteria, but did not solve the problem completely. So even taking into account the fact that microbes can settle on paper towels, they, according to this study, are still more hygienic than dryers.

In 2022, the American Dallinn Lewis carried away by science spent his own experimentTo find out how safe to use hand dryers, and presented visual results. For a few seconds he placed Petri's cups in different types of dryers in public toilets in the cinema, at a gas station and in the store. Then he put them in an incubator for three days. In all containers, bacteria showed the growth visible to the naked eye. However, the results of the experiment cannot be considered strictly scientific, since, not being a professional researcher, Lewis could not take into account some factors. In addition, he recommends not to dry his hands at all, justifying this by the fact that Petri's cup, which he simply waved in the air, imitating the shaking of moisture from his hands, remained visually clean. This is contrary Recommendations Authoritative medical organizations, such as US Disease Control Centers (CDC). Lewis did not carry out comparisons using the hands of paper towels.

Meta analysis Scientific research on the hygiene of different methods of drying after washing, conducted in 2012, a group of scientists from the American independent research center "Clinic Mayo" confirmed that paper towels are a more effective and safe choice. But researchers from the University of Arizona (USA) in 2020 Not found In existing scientific work, there is enough evidence that paper towels have any serious advantages over dryers in terms of health and safety.

Thus, most of the “tested” authoritative studies are “tested” indicate that the use of paper towels in public toilets is really more hygienic compared to hand dryers. However, there are scientific works that indicate that dryers are also quite effective and safe. Be that as it may, if there are no paper towels in the restroom, it is better take advantage A dryer than just to leave your hands wet or wipe them on clothes - this can lead to a faster spread of microbes and nullify the effect of washing hands.

Photo on the cover: canva.com

Most likely, the truth

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