Science Questions

Are hot air hand dryers an infection risk? Mark Baker

Chris - Potentially because when you're in the bathroom and you wash your hands - if you don't wash your hands very well and you've still got bugs and viruses on your skin and you put them under the cleaner - this will blow anything including a fine mist of water off your hands. If you look at the floor under a hand dryer you'll always see it's covered in water anyway. You've got lots of water landing on the floor with any bugs in it. Pus what they're doing is creating lots of air currents in the room that could also stir bacteria from around the toilet, from around the urinal and circulate them. This means you might breathe them in. I thin kit's worse than a towel. The best thing is probably paper towels where you take one, wipe your hands on it and chuck it away.

October 2008