If you’re a germophobe who wants to use a public bathroom ever again, you might want to stop reading this.

Because it turns out, while bathroom hand dryers can be more environmentally friendly than paper towels, they can also be a whirlpool of fecal matter.

You might not know it, but when someone flushes an open toilet, little bits of poop and bacteria can be thrown as high as 4.5 meters into the air.

As if that’s not gross enough, now a new study has found that those little bits of poop and bacteria can be sucked up by warm hand dryers and blown straight onto your freshly washed hands.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut began their study by placing petri dishes under various bathroom hand dryers around the school. Then, the team sat down to analyze the results.

While the plates that were exposed to normal bathroom air had about one bacterial colony present, the samples that were exposed to 30 seconds of hand dryer air had 18 to 60 bacterial colonies per plate.

The researchers concluded that “many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers.”

“The more air you move? The more bacteria stick,” lead author Peter Setlow explained to Business Insider.

“And there are a lot of bacteria in bathrooms.”

The results are so yuck that Setlow himself has officially sworn off hand dryers. Now, the University of Connecticut offers paper towels as a hand dryer alternative. Still, the average person doesn’t need to freak out just yet.

Setlow says that even though people who suffer from weak immune systems, like seniors, should avoid using hand dryers, the rest of us can probably handle it.

Besides — just because hand dryers churn out a ton of bacteria, it doesn’t mean that bacteria is necessarily bad for you. After all, fungi, bacteria and other microbes are absolutely everywhere you go, and the vast majority of this menagerie doesn’t make you sick.

Plus, exposure to bacteria is an important part of building up your immune system so that you can live a long and healthy life.

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【培养皿】péiyǎngmǐn petri dish a shallow, circular glass or plastic dish with a loose-fitting cover over the top and sides, used for culturing bacteria and other microorganisms

【发誓不用】fāshì búyòng swear off promise, pledge, or be determined not to do, use, eat, or imbibe something anymore

如果你有洁癖，而且平时需要使用公共卫生间，可能这篇文章你根本读不下去。

因为事实是，虽然卫生间的烘手器比纸巾更环保，但它同时也会喷出污物。

你或许不知道，在冲厕所时，如果没盖马桶盖，那么会有少量排泄物和细菌被冲到4.5米的高空。

这还不够恶心，如今一项新研究发现，这些从马桶冲到空中的排泄物和细菌会被温暖的烘手器吸收，然后再直直地吹向你刚刚洗过的双手。

康涅狄格大学的研究人员在学校多个卫生间的烘手器下方放置了培养皿，然后对结果进行分析。

暴露在普通卫生间空气中的培养皿里有1个菌落，而在烘手器吹出的风中待30秒的培养皿里则有18-60个菌落。

研究人员得出结论称“烘手器会将多种细菌吹到人们手上，包括潜在的病原体和芽孢。”

研究报告的主要作者彼得•塞特洛对商业内幕网说：“吹的风越多，沾在手上的细菌也越多。”

“卫生间里有很多细菌。”

研究结论太令人作呕，塞特洛自己都正式弃用烘手器了。如今，康涅狄格大学在卫生间里提供纸巾，代替烘手器。

不过，普通人也无需过于担心。塞特洛表示，尽管老年人等免疫系统薄弱的人应该避免使用烘手器，其他人基本上不会有大碍。

此外，虽然烘手器会喷出大量细菌，但这些细菌也未必对身体有害。毕竟，真菌、细菌和其他微生物几乎无处不在，而其中绝大部分都不会致病。

另外，接触细菌有助于增强免疫系统，让你健康长寿。

(Chinadaily.com.cn)