With so many people on the roads these next few months and perhaps using the jet air hand dryers at the rest stops or businesses, here is some interesting information that I gleaned from the FOOD FOR THOUGHT, WY Dept. of Ag:\u00a0 Consumer Health Services Division, Spring, 2016, issue article that was written by Alexandra Ossola.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cThose jet hand dryers might dry your hands super fast and make you feel like you\u2019re living in the future, but they might be making others around you sick.\u00a0 A study published in January in the Journal of Applied Microbiology compared the dispersal of viruses when people dry their hands with paper towels, warm air dryers, and jet dryers and found that jet air dryers were by far the worst offenders, spraying 1,300 times more viral plaques (clumps of viruses) than paper towels, and sending some of them nearly 10 feet from the dry itself.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe study was reported on by various outlets this week, such as the Independent and the Guardian.\u00a0 This is the most recent of a number of studies on the issue, and jet dryer manufacturers can give plenty of reasons to take its findings with a grain of salt.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cIn the study, the researchers asked participants to dip their gloved hands into a solution of a harmless virus called MS2.\u00a0 After giving their hands a quick shake, the participants tried one of the three drying methods.\u00a0 The researchers then collected samples from the air and from surfaces (petri dishes placed before the experiment) at different distances from where the drying procedure occurred.\u00a0 The jet air dryer was far and away the worst offender, spreading more viruses farther.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cThese differences in results between the three hand-drying devices can be largely explained by their mode of drying the hand.”\u00a0 The researchers weren\u2019t surprised by their findings.\u00a0 \u201cThese differences in results between the three hand-drying devices can be largely explained by their mode of drying the hands,\u201d they write.\u00a0 That would make a big difference in places where it\u2019s essential to avoid disease transmission, like in hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to note that the study didn\u2019t test how well the different drying methods distribute bacteria, which are much larger and can also cause disease.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cPrevious studies, such as one conducted by the same researchers in 2014, have stirred controversy about just how clean jet dryers are.\u00a0 After the 2014 study was published, Dyson spokespeople noted that the participants\u2019 hands were more covered with viruses than they would be in a real-world scenario and claimed that paper towels are covered with germs from previous users.\u00a0 In 2008, the Royal Society for Public Health gave Dyson Airblade, one of the most common jet dryers, an accreditation for hygiene.\u00a0 Another Dyson spokesperson accused scientists of \u201cscaremongering\u201d and have previously complained that the research is being funded by the paper towel industry.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cDon\u2019t expect full clarity on this issue anytime soon \u2013 the fight is a dirty one for whose products are the most hygienic.\u00a0 Just wash your hands well and, no matter which drying technique you use, look on the bright side:\u00a0 a few more germs could boost your immune system.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
As you probably know, I visit area first-grade classes to teach them the proper way to wash their hands.\u00a0 Then second graders are shown Skittles that represent a \u2018germ\u2019 and how quickly they grow from 1 little Skittle (aka \u2018germ\u2019) into 512 \u2018germs\u2019 in three hours and into 16,777,216 \u2018germs\u2019 in eight hours, which is 32,768 times the number of germs there were in three hours.\u00a0 When you put that into school time, that 1 germ grew to 512 germs in just the time the students started school until they ate lunch.\u00a0 Extrapolate that into the number of germs that the first germ would have grown into by the time the students go home for their after-school snack, and it is AMAZING!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Another example of how germs spread is done by spraying water from a bottle.\u00a0 The students are amazed at how far a \u2018germ\u2019 of water can travel if they don\u2019t properly sneeze into the crook of their arm.\u00a0 These little tricks certainly do get across the point that it is important to wash your hands with warm water and soap and that it takes 20 seconds (sing the ABC song) of friction to get rid of those germs.\u00a0 Now, research is showing that using those jet air dryers really isn\u2019t as good of an idea as just plain using a paper towel and properly disposing of it.<\/p>\r\n
Written by Vicki Hayman, MS, University of Wyoming Extension Nutrition and Food Safety Educator<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With so many people on the roads these next few months and perhaps using the jet air hand dryers at the rest stops or businesses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":14958,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[783,957],"tags":[451,452,450,191],"class_list":["post-1294","newsletters","type-newsletters","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-safety-3","category-newsletter","tag-drying-hands","tag-germs","tag-jet-air-hand-dryers","tag-viruses"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters\/1294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newsletters"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters\/1294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16813,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletters\/1294\/revisions\/16813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uwyoextension.org\/uwnutrition\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}