QUESTION:
Are hand dryers loaded with harmful bacteria?
ANSWER:
Experts say no. Hand dryers and paper towels are both equally sanitary, the CDC says.
SOURCES:
Ellen Foxman- Clinical Virology Lab- Yale University
Sheldon Campbell- Clinical Microbiology Lab- Yale University
"Comparison of different hand-drying methods: the potential for airborne microbe dispersal and contamination"- The Journal of Hospital Infection
"The Hygienic Efficacy of Different Hand-Drying Methods: A Review of the Evidence"- Mayo Clinic
PROCESS:
A viral Facebook post shared over 570,000 times has induced the gag reflex nationwide: a petri dish growing a garden of gross cultured from below a public restroom hand dryer.
The post claims hand dryers collect harmful fungi carried over from toilets, and spray that gunk all over your hands. The woman who posted it placed a petri dish under a hand dryer for three minutes and posted a terrifying furry picture.
Four viewers reached out to our team with this one.
We went to two experts at Yale University. They analyzed the photo and say what you see on that dish is a bunch of micro organisms which are very common: flail a petri dish around the office and you'll see similar results.
What you can't see by just looking at the plate, is which stuff's harmless and which stuff could make you sick.
"Almost any environmental surface you're going to sample, if you put stuff on a bacterial growth plate, something's going to grow," Ellen Foxman, part of the Clinical Virology Lab at Yale University, said.
"The technique of growing bacteria on plates is definitely used to look for disease-causing bacteria, but just because something grows on a plate doesn't mean it's not a normal bacteria that's not harmful," Foxman said.
Next, we went to the CDC to try to get some facts about hand dryers and harmful bacteria, but they say it's unclear.
Most of the widely cited research focus just on microbes in general, not infectious viruses.
Plus, those studies conflict, which wasn't surprising to our Verify team when we found out two were sponsored by paper product manufacturers and one by Dyson, which makes hand dryers.
We can Verify, hand dryers are full of microbes, but no, that doesn't mean you'll get sick. Our experts say they're basically everywhere.
What all of the studies and CDC can agree on, if you don't want to catch a bug - wash your hands well, and dry them completely.
