Many probably feel like using the air hand dryer is the cleanest way to dry your hands off since you're not really touching anything in the bathroom.... think again!
A University of Connecticut study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, involved the study of three separate bathrooms on campus and what they found is a thing of nightmares!
Scientists put special plates under several different hand dryers for 30 seconds, between 18 and 30 colonies of bacteria where found on each plate after testing. They concluded that the air dryers suck up fecal matter in the air and then spray it onto your hands as you dry them. (I'll wait... go grab a garbage can )
“These results indicate that many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers, and that spores could be dispersed throughout buildings and deposited on hands by hand dryers,” the study concluded.
They suggested that HEPA filters can cut down on the bacteria in the dryers or you can switch to paper towels. Which makes Mother Earth kinda sad.