干手器會使干凈的手沾染衛生間的細菌

張寧

In tests， the hot-air machines spread far more microbes3 than paper towels.

在測試中袁熱風干手器傳播的微生物比紙巾多得多。

Washing your hands with soap andwater washes away germs. But the hot-airhand dryers found in many publicrestrooms seem to spray4 microbes rightback onto clean skin. Thats what 16-yearoldZita Nguyen found by swabbing5peoples freshly washed and dried hands.

用肥皂和水洗手可以洗掉細菌。但是，在許多公共衛生間里都能找到的熱風干手器似乎會將微生物重新噴回干凈的皮膚上。這就是16歲的齊塔·阮通過拭抹人們剛洗過和吹干過的手時發現的情況。

Toilets in public restrooms seldomhave lids. So flushing6 them sprays thegerms from excreted7 wastes into the air.That same air is drawn into those wallmountedelectric hand dryers. Thesemachines provide a nice warm home inwhich microbes can flourish8， Zita says.Cleaning the inside of these machinescan be difficult， she adds.

公共衛生間的便池很少有蓋子。因此，沖水會將排泄物中的細菌噴灑到空氣中。同樣的空氣被吸入那些壁掛式電動干手器中。齊塔說，這些機器為微生物提供了一個可以繁殖的溫暖家園。她補充說，清潔這些機器的內部可能很困難。

“Freshly washed hands are gettingcontaminated9 with this bacteria thatgrows inside these machines，”Zita says.

“剛洗過的手會被這些機器內滋生的細菌污染?！饼R塔說。

Zita wanted to explore an idea.Would drying hands farther away fromthe hot-air dryer lessen the number ofgerms that fall back onto the skin？

齊塔想探索一個想法。在離熱風干手器較遠的地方烘干雙手，會減少掉回到皮膚上的細菌數量嗎？

The teen had four people wash anddry their hands in restrooms at a malland a gas station. The participantswashed hands with soap and water. Aftereach washing， they dried their handsusing one of three different methods. Insome trials10， they simply used papertowels. In the others， they used anelectric hand dryer. Sometimes， theyheld their hands close to the machine，about 13 centimeters below it. Othertimes， they held their hands about 30centimeters below the dryer. Each handdryingcondition was performed 20 times.

這名青少年讓四個人在一家商場和一個加油站的衛生間里洗手并弄干雙手。參與者們用肥皂和水洗手。每次洗手后，他們用三種不同干手方法中的一種來弄干手。在一些測試中，他們只是簡單地使用紙巾。在其他測試中，他們使用了電動干手器。有時，他們把手靠近機器，放在機器下面約13 厘米的地方。有時，他們把手放在干手器下面約30 厘米的位置。每一種干手條件測試了20 次。

Right after this drying， Zitaswabbed their hands for germs.Then she rubbed the swabs onto petri dishes11. She housed thesedishes for three days.

干手后，齊塔立即用棉簽拭抹他們的手提取細菌。然后，她把拭子擦到培養皿上。她將這些培養皿放置了三天。

Afterward， all the petridishes were covered with off-whitespots. Zita warns that harmfulgerms might be lurking12 in therestroomsdryers.

之后，所有的培養皿上都覆蓋著灰白色的斑點。齊塔警告說，有害細菌可能潛伏在衛生間的干手器中。

Fewer than 50 colonies13， on average，turned up in each dish exposed to swabsfrom hands dried with paper towels or fromhands held farther from the electric dryers.In contrast14， more than 130 colonies， onaverage， grew in petri dishes fromhands held close tothe hot-air dryers.

平均而言，每個從用紙巾擦干的手或遠離電動干手器吹干的手上提取樣本的培養皿中只有不到50 個菌落。相比之下，平均每個在靠近電動干手器吹干的手上提取樣本的培養皿中有130 多個菌落。

At first， Zitawas amazed by allthe microbes inthese dishes. Quickly，however， she realizedthey represented whatcovered peoples hands afterusing a hot-air dryer. “This is disgusting，”she now says. “Im never going to put myhands so close to these machines again！ ”

起初，齊塔對這些培養皿里的微生物感到驚訝。但很快，她意識到它們代表了人們使用熱風干手器后手上沾染的東西?！斑@太惡心了?！彼F在說，“我再也不會把手離這些機器這么近了！”