By Janice NeumannFri Dec 12, 2014 4:16pm EST(Reuters Health) - (Changes "done" to "none" in quote wi...

1. Air dryers may spread more hand germs
By Janice Neumann
Fri Dec 12, 2014 4:16pm EST
(Reuters Health) - (Changes "done" to
"none" in quote within paragraph 14)
What's better for limiting the spread of
bacteria in washrooms: paper towels, or
air dryers?
New research funded by a trade
organization of paper towel
manufacturers suggests that towels
spread less bacteria.
Previous studies have shown mixed results, some finding air dryers spread more bacteria and others
showing they're as safe as towels. A review of past studies published in 2012 in the Mayo Clinic
Proceedings suggested that in healthcare settings, at least, "paper towels should be recommended."
In the new study, jet air dryers spread 27 times the microbes as paper towels, and four times more
microbes than warm-air machines, researchers said in a presentation last week in France at a
meeting of the European Tissue Symposium, which sponsored the work.
Lead author Mark Wilcox and his colleagues had volunteers dip gloved hands into yogurt containing
lactobacilli, a type of "friendly" bacteria. Then, the volunteers dried their hands using jet air dryers,
warm air dryers, and paper towels.
The test was repeated 60 times over six weeks for 20 collections of each method.
From one meter away, the average airborne bacterial counts, measured in so-called colony-forming
units, were 89.5 when the gloved hands were dried with jet air dryers, 18.7 using warm air dryers,
and 2.2 from paper towels.
To assess the potential spread of bacteria visually, individuals dipped their gloved hands in black
paint and wore white disposable suits backwards with the hoods covering their faces. When they
dried their hands, there were 230 visible spots from the jet air driers and 130 from the warm air
dryers. None were found on people who used paper towels.
Wilcox, who is a consultant/head of microbiology at Leeds Teaching Hospitals in the UK, pointed out
in email to Reuters Health that drying hands thoroughly is an important way to avoid spreading
bacteria to other people or surfaces.

2. "I had made the disconcerting observation that when using some jet air driers I could feel droplets
hitting my face," said Wilcox of his interest in doing the study. "For an infection control doctor, a key
principle is to reduce the risk of spread of microbes."
He and his coauthors say that more research is needed before anyone can assume the air dryers
spread more germs than towels.
In email to Reuters Health, William Gagnon, vice president of marketing for Excel Dryer, Inc. in East
Longmeadow, Massachusetts, pointed to studies that showed no difference in bacteria with the
different drying methods and others that showed microbes on unused, recycled paper towels.
Benjamin Tanner, a microbiologist who is president and CEO of Antimicrobial Test Laboratories in
Round Rock, Texas, criticized the new study for using gloved hands (which he said is unrealistic),
paint spots and a high number of bacteria - and for failing to show any real health risk.
"A well done study would have measured levels of disease-causing organisms on the hands (which
may have been none), then measured the number of those bacteria that are blown off as a result of
drying," said Tanner in an email to Reuters Health.
Wilcox replies that the study "purposely contaminated hands with a high number of bacteria to
represent poorly washed hands, and (we) have justified this decision in our publication."
Dr. John Segreti told Reuters Health by phone that the study is interesting and well done. "What
they were trying to do was mimic someone who doesn't wash their hands carefully," said Segreti. "It
wasn't intended as a real-life analysis."
But Segreti, who was not involved in the study, doesn't think bacteria from dryers are much of a
health risk.
"In their conclusion, they have a lot of maybes . .
. and I think you have to keep that in mind with
this," said Segreti, an infectious disease
specialist and hospital epidemiologist at Rush
University Medical Center in Chicago.
Importantly, he said, "most of the pathogens
people have on their skin are not spread by the
airborne route but by direct (contact)."
"It's what's left on your hands after drying that
is more important than what's aerosolized into
the air," he said.
Segreti also said hospitals tend to use alcohol gel or foam on patient floors, not air dryers.
"Certainly (they're) in public restrooms all over the place and how that translates to transmission in
the community is a different issue. I don't know of any outbreak yet that's been traced back to any of
these," said Segreti.

3. Before last week's presentation in France, the study was online in August in the Journal of Hospital
Infection.
SOURCE: bit.ly/1xwccpO Journal of Hospital Infection, online August 26, 2014.
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Print
Reprints
http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/healthNews/~3/NGeg82heNjE/story01.htm