High-powered jet dryers spread 1300 more germs than paper towels

Though hand dryers may look more appealing and hygienic, the truth of the matter is they have been found to be more harmful than paper towels.

According to research posted in Journal of Applied Microbiology, it has been found that hand dryers pass on more germs than the normal paper towel.

The study was led by researchers at the University of Westminster in London.

It used the MS2 virus, which only infects bacteria and not people, to test the spread of germs.

The researchers wore gloves and covered their gloved hands in the MS2 virus, then dried their virus-loaded hands with a Dyson jet air dryer, a common warm air dryer, and paper towels.

The results showed that using a Dyson jet air dryer spreads 1,300 times more viruses than paper towels, and the jet dyer spread 60 times more than your average air dryers.

It was also revealed that viruses from the jet air dryer settled about 0.25 meters away, but even at three meters, the jet dryer spread 500 times more viruses than the warm air dryer.

The good news, however, is that paper towels were found to spread zero viruses at the three-meter mark.