Posted on 04/14/2018 6:58:30 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
While washing your hands after using the restroom is always recommended hygiene, a recent study might have you thinking twice about using a hand dryer afterward.
University of Connecticut researchers have found that hand dryers suck in bacteria from the air in the bathrooms and then spit it back out onto your hands. And when we say bacteria, we mean fecal matter from the toilet.
"Bacteria in bathrooms will come from feces, which can be aerosolized a bit when toilets, especially lidless toilets, are flushed," study author Peter Setlow told Newsweek.
In the study that was published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, "hot-air hand dryers in multiple men's and women's bathrooms in three basic science research areas in an academic health center were screened for their deposition on plates of total bacteria," and what the researchers found was that "plates exposed to hand dryer air for 30 s averaged 18 to 60 colonies/plate."
The University of Connecticut has added paper towels to all 36 of the bathrooms used in the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I use my pants when there are no towels...my eardrums are highly valued.
No point washing your hands if you touch the handle that opens the door to leave.
I don’t touch anything but my own Johnson in the men’s room. Wash my hands? No thanks. Hand sanitizer as soon as I get out of the room.
This is precisely why I go about my business wearing a giant ziplock bag.
i’ve never used those blowers after i tried them a couple of times long ago: fundamentally they don’t work, or if they do, i’ve never stood there for the number of minutes to find out if they do work. If paper towels aren’t available, i just dry my hands on the insides of my pockets ...
The best solution is to bring your own gloves. Wash your hands. Push the exit door with your gloves.
And always bring your own portable spray cleaner bottle with you to the public toilet. This method is hyper clean.
The good stuff you learn only on Free Republic ...
:-)
Larry you are killing me! :-)
I turn my back to the toilet and stand as far from it as I can. I also use the handicap stall, for more room to stand away from the toilet. At home, I put the lid down.
In one study, bacteria survived on average 10 minutes when propelled into the air in droplets. Some survived as long as 45 minutes. If they fall into water, they will survive longer than if they land on a dry surface. Under the blow dryer tends to be wet with all of the hands dripping on it. So, probably lots of bacteria there.
“Always Wipe Hands on Pants”
I'm old enough to remember the cloth towel that was dispensed on a roll, and you'd yank on it to receive a clean panel of it for wiping your hands.
This was closely associated with restroom tokens and powdered gritty pink Borax soap which came in a dispenser you pumped from the bottom with your hand.
It’s not a problem as long as you wash your hands after using the dryer.
Unless you can hold your breath for more than 5 minutes, you should enter with a face mask to filter the air you breathe in. Of course, your clothes will be covered in contaminants! Best bet, don't enter until long after the restroom is empty and the air has settled. Much to do about nothing, you take your chances in life every time you leave your home. My wife has a habit of immediately washing her clothes anytime she has sat anywhere outside the home, especially after using mass transit. She says the germs from the public will stick to your rear. Yuck.
A good reason for not leaving your toothbrush in the open near the toilet. I remove mine from the bathroom to a safer place. Especially when at hotels.
The environmentalists didn’t like paper grocery bags because they “destroyed trees” so they forced plastic grocery bags on us.
Now they don’t like the litter from plastic grocery bags so they’ve come up with another scheme ..... that won’t work and will make things worse.
Tooth brushes were placed through out a house, plus one unopened in original wrapper.
After a period of time, a fecal test was done on all of the brushes.
Everyone, including the unopened, had fecal matter on them.
How much “grant money” did these a-hole researchers at University of Connecticut get to study this “problem”? A festival of homos hiring their homo friends to do paper shuffling/microscope viewing jobs to get a pay czech.
Can anyone hold their breath thd entire time they are in a restroom? Something else sucks in air several times a minute. Just saying.
I’ve always thought those Air dryers are a flawed attempt to solve some non-existent problem for the benefit of some well connected contractors.
Personally, if I need to GO, number two, while out and about, I will avoid the McDonald’s since they all have air dryers.
Your best bet is to find a Hotel, any hotel, but the upscale hotels are the best. You can pull up and park/stand right at the front door, walk in like you’re a customer. Heck, you can even hit the bar in the lobby for a quick shot before anyone calls you out.
Bad gut bacteria in gut can help lead to obesity.... so using the restroom at McDonalds can make you fat...
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