A scientist who set out to investigate whether hand dryers can infect your hands with bacteria has uncovered terrible facts. Taking samples from hand dryers in various locations in Utah, 33-year-old Dallin Lewis incubated the bacterial colonies for three days to give them time to grow.
The results revealed that bacteria and fungi exploded in petri dishes kept under any hand dryer. He found that the healthiest way to dry hands was to wave them in the air.
“MUCH WORST THAN EXPECTED”
Lewis said the results for hand dryers were ‘much worse’ than he expected. Describing the stages of his experiment on his social media account, Lewis said:
‘I have done similar bacterial growth tests on various surfaces. Phones and gas pumps are probably some of the worst, but the hand dryer was awful!’ said.
DO NOT WASH IN THE MACHINE THAN YOU DRY
It comes after a British expert warned the other day that not drying your hands after going to the toilet could be worse than not washing them at all. A microbiologist with 50 years of experience, Dr. David Webber said that even people who don’t wash their hands properly can be described as social threats.
Lewis told SWNS he was “incredibly surprised” by the test results. I knew they would be bad, but I never expected the level I saw. The tests also revealed hidden bacterial colonies in the mouths of hand dryers.
WHY IS DRYING HAND IMPORTANT?
Experts say drying your hands after washing them is very important because many types of bacteria like to breed in warm and humid places.