A Facebook user named Nichole Ward conducted her own personal study on the cleanliness of public restroom hand dryers, and her results might initially shock you.
She placed a petri dish in an enclosed hand dryer for a total of 3 minutes, and collected a cluster of bacteria and fungi. Her post has since gone viral, warning people not to dry their hands in one of them.
It has been shared over 561 thousand times, and users in the comments are disgusted.
According to Global News, the hand dryer was a Dyson Airblade, and Dyson has since responded to the controversial post.
Dyson told ABC News, "We’re very surprised to see these results, and unclear on the methodology employed. All Dyson AirbladeTM hand dryers have HEPA filters that capture particles as small as bacteria from the washroom air before it leaves the machine."
In addition to this, a microbiologist named Jason Tetro says that the photo is a bit misleading. What is pictured in the photo is "five or six bacteria or fungal spores," which he says most likely came from the air and environment in the restroom, not necessarily the hand dryer itself.
In addition, the photo shows the dish after a few days.
“It just looks cross because they were growing for 48 hours on very rich media, which is enough to make some pretty giant colonies," stated Tetro.
According to Tetro, hand dryers and paper towels are the same in terms of hygiene, but paper towels are better to avoid the spread of pathogens like the flu.
Overall, this microbiologist says that there is really nothing to worry about. His advice if you're still worried about the possible germs, bacteria or fungi you have encountered from a hand dryer: just use some alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Sounds good to us!