Hygiene in hand washing

Many studies have been conducted on the benefits of hand washing and on the effectiveness of the various elements involved in the operation, but relatively few on the contribution of hand drying to hygiene.

For effective control of infections through hand washing, you should also ensure that not only your hands are completely clean after washing, but also that the hand drying system is most suitable.

Infection prevention and infection control have always been serious issues, but this is particularly true today, with the spread of infections acquired in the hospital.

ETS asked a research team at the University of Westminster, led by microbiologist Keith Redway, to study the hygienic behavior of various hand drying methods, to take into account technology and product development, including the dryer to newly introduced new-generation air jet, which had not been evaluated in previous comparative studies. The main methodology used in this study is the same one that had been used in the previous University of Westminster studies on the subject in 1993/1998.

Are electric hot air dryers the right solution?

This latest study has compared the performance of paper towels compared to two types of electric air hand dryers: both hot air hand dryers and new ultra-fast hand dryers increase the average number of bacteria in the hands after use, while paper towels reduce it.

The ultra-fast dryers, which use high-speed air (up to 600 km / h) also showed a higher risk of spreading micro-drops, potentially contaminated, to other users and on the various surfaces of the bathroom, compared to other drying systems verified in this study . In addition, like traditional hot-air hand dryers, they can be contaminated by bacteria, some of which can cause disease.

Press release:

Press release: New evidence shows that electric hand dryers can put health at risk (Feb. 2009 in Italian) (Feb. 2009 in English)

Hand hygiene is a serious matter: in order to eliminate microorganisms and avoid infections, the same attention given to a large part of hospitals should be applied to hand drying.

To avoid infections and infections, the guidelines given to doctors and patients contemplate washing hands carefully, using soap, and then drying them with a paper towel, which has the property of significantly reducing the germs and viruses that remain in the hands.

This healthy hand hygiene practice, indicated by health specialists, keeps the risk of possible infections under control and prevents their spread.