Paper towel or air jet? Find out what's more hygienic to dry your hands
Research done on hospital toilets in Europe helps to clarify this issueDid you know that the way you dry your hands in the bathroom may be even more important than washing them?
With the premise of preserving the environment, many public toilets offer air-jet appliances instead of paper towels. However, a study of hospital restrooms in the United Kingdom, France and Italy has shown that paper is the most recommended: jets spread far more germs.
Published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, the survey revealed that sites that had air dryers had a higher rate of bacterial contamination, including fecal and antibiotic resistant.
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- When people use the air dryer, the microbes are expelled and spread through the bathroom. They create an aerosol effect, contaminating the device itself, the sink, the floor and other surfaces, "Mark Wilcox, a professor of medical microbiology at the institution, told Leeds University website.
Although the study considered only health homes, the rule is the same for other environments such as restaurant restrooms and shopping malls, for example. Biomedical Roberto Figueiredo, known as Dr. Bacteria, explains that even after washing, some bacteria remain in the hands:
- If you wipe them with paper, it will reduce the remaining microorganisms by 40%. When using air, you can increase them by 250%. But why? Because the appliance absorbs the air that it has in the bathroom, which is highly contaminated, and concentrates it in the hands.
Other than that, the expert says the air jets still have the potential to spread the germs to a very large area, up to four feet away.