I just wipe my hands on my pants and will continue doing so

[Scooter]

Bathroom hand-dryers suck in poo-particles and aerosolize them all over you and everything else

A new study in Applied and Environmental Microbiology (Sci-Hub mirror) conducted microbial surveys of the bathrooms at the University of Connecticut (where the study's lead authors are based) to investigate whether hand-dryers were sucking in potentially infectious microbes and then spraying them all over everything, as had been observed in earlier studies.

They were.

The full cycle goes like this: when you flush a toilet that doesn't have a lid, the turbulence of the flush sends fecal particles into the air, where they hover in a miasmic cloud; when the dryers switch on, they pull these particles in through their intake, heat them up, and spray them onto your moist hands and other moist, hospitable surfaces where their bacteria can thrive.

HEPA filters greatly reduce this mechanism.

The new study specifically focuses on lower-powered hand-dryers, which some people had believed were less prone to sucking in tiny pieces of shit and spraying them on you.

Earlier studies on hand-dryers were tainted by funding from companies that manufactured paper towels, but as far as I can tell, no such conflict exists here.

PS533 “was almost certainly dispersed throughout bathrooms in the research areas as spores, which would easily survive desiccation in room air, as well as the elevated temperatures in hand dryer air; however, growing or stationary-phase bacteria would not be nearly so hardy as spores,” the authors note. “However, the facile dispersion of one bacterial strain throughout a research facility should probably be a concern to risk assessors and risk managers when dispersion of potentially pathogenic bacteria is considered.”

In a final test, the researchers did a cursory look at some of the other bacteria the dryers were blowing around. They found that with or without a HEPA filter, the blowers stirred up potential pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus.

The findings should be a wake-up call to managers of research and clinical settings. The authors note that Clostridium difficile—a devastating and intractable diarrheal plague—also forms spores, and researchers have found that a flushing toilet can easily launch it into the air.

“This suggests another means of C. difficile transmission and one that may not be interrupted by either hand washing or traditional surface decontamination methods,” the authors conclude. “The role of this potential mode of C. difficile transmission is worthy of future study.”

[Big RR]

I thought most of the hand driers had a UV light to kill the bacteria in the air stream; I googled hand driers and most of them appear to have a UV source, although there is no information on how effective it is.

[Long Run]

That is a big ewww. A few questions though. How much spray matter exists in the typical public lavatory, or at home for that matter? Seems like the issue is much greater at home where people leave all kinds of thing out on the counters (toothbrushes, e.g.). Is there not a way to create a flush that does not lead to much "spray"? Why isn't the low-tech paper towel the answer?

[Sue U]

I have been misled, apparently:

[Scooter]

Why isn't the low-tech paper towel the answer?

Where they exist, that is what I use. It also solves the problem of touching surfaces after my hands are washed.

[Burning Petard]

Aerosols are a factor in this situation. The old fashioned out house is one way to minimize them. But that has other problems. In the typical public accommodations in the USA, where not paper towels are provided but only the hot air dryers. One can make do without just following the headline in this thread. It is rare that there i not a supply of absorbent paper near the commode. Life is a series of compromises. Choose wisely.

snailgate.

[Joe Guy]

The study seems to assume there’s always someone flushing loosely formed poop in a public restroom.

[Big RR]

Maybe public toilets should be equipped with a sprayer for a spray of VI Poo before a flush; if it can keep down the smells, it can likely keep down the particulate splash as well. And, as a bonus, public restrooms can smell like a lemon superstar or another of those catchy fragrances.

[Big RR]

Maybe public toilets should be equipped with a sprayer for a spray of VI Poo before a flush; if it can keep down the smells, it can likely keep down the particulate splash as well.

http://www.airwick.us/vipoo/?gclid=EAIa ... lsrc=aw.ds

And, as a bonus, public restrooms can smell like a lemon superstar or another of those catchy fragrances.

[Bicycle Bill]

Maybe public toilets should be equipped with a sprayer for a spray of VI Poo before a flush; if it can keep down the smells, it can likely keep down the particulate splash as well. And, as a bonus, public restrooms can smell like a lemon superstar or another of those catchy fragrances.

The way I understand how that product (and its predecessor, 'Poo-Pourri') works, you spray this stuff in the bowl, where it creates a film on the surface of the water.  Then, when you 'unfeed', this film coats your recycled Chicken McNuggets with an odor-resistant glaze — much like dunking a three-dimensional object into a hydro dipping tank — while the remaining product continues to form a barrier against odors as well as being prepared for a 'second wave' bombing run.

Of course, when you hit the lever and say "good-bye" to your Howdy Doodies, you're flushing a miniature oil slick down into the sewer system and off to the treatment plant.  Now, multiply that by several million flushes per day all across this great country of ours......

It wasn't all that long ago that President Obama signed a bill banning microbeads, those tiny plastic spheres used as exfoliants in face and body scrubs, toothpaste, deodorant, and just about any other beauty product on the shelves in the first decade of the 21st century.  It seemed like a good idea at the time — until we came to realize that our waste-water treatment plants were not designed to handle the microbeads, which meant they mostly wound up back in the environment.  They also wouldn’t biodegrade, so they would stay in the ground and waterways virtually forever.

Who knows what the Laws of Unintended Consequences have in store for us just because we want to make believe our shit doesn't stink?

-"BB"-