在衛(wèi)生間使用烘手器更環(huán)保，但它其實(shí)更不衛(wèi)生。隨著暖風(fēng)噴出的還有衛(wèi)生間中的排泄物和細(xì)菌，看到這兒，經(jīng)常用烘手器的你是不是已經(jīng)崩潰了……別擔(dān)心，其中絕大部分病菌都不會(huì)致病，而且其實(shí)你不管是烘干或擦干，手上總會(huì)沾上一些細(xì)菌。

If you're a germophobe who wants to use a public bathroom ever again, you might want to stop reading this.

如果你有潔癖，而且平時(shí)需要使用公共衛(wèi)生間，可能這篇文章你根本讀不下去。

Because it turns out, while bathroom hand dryers can be more environmental than paper towels, they can also be a whirlpool of faecal matter.

因?yàn)槭聦?shí)是，雖然衛(wèi)生間的烘手器比紙巾更環(huán)保，但它同時(shí)也會(huì)噴出污物。

You might not know it, but when someone flushes an open toilet, little bits of poop and bacteria can be thrown as high as 15 feet (4.5 metres) into the air.

你或許不知道，在沖廁所時(shí)，如果沒蓋馬桶蓋，那么會(huì)有少量排泄物和細(xì)菌被沖到15英尺（約合4.5米）的高空。

As if that's not gross enough, now a new study has found that those little bits of poop and bacteria can be sucked up by warm hand dryers and blown straight onto your freshly washed hands.

這還不夠惡心，如今一項(xiàng)新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些從馬桶沖到空中的排泄物和細(xì)菌會(huì)被溫暖的烘手器吸收，然后再直直地吹向你剛剛洗過的雙手。

Researchers at the University of Connecticut began their study by placing petri dishes under various bathroom hand dryers around the school. Then, the team sat down to analyse the results.

康涅狄格大學(xué)的研究人員在學(xué)校多個(gè)衛(wèi)生間的烘手器下方放置了培養(yǎng)皿，然后對(duì)結(jié)果進(jìn)行分析。

While the plates that were exposed to normal bathroom air had about one bacterial colony present, the samples that were exposed to 30 seconds of hand dryer air had 18 to 60 bacterial colonies per plate.

暴露在普通衛(wèi)生間空氣中的培養(yǎng)皿里有1個(gè)菌落，而在烘手器吹出的風(fēng)中待30秒的培養(yǎng)皿里則有18-60個(gè)菌落。

The researchers concluded that "many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers."

研究人員得出結(jié)論稱“烘手器會(huì)將多種細(xì)菌吹到人們手上，包括潛在的病原體和芽孢?！?/p>

"The more air ya move? The more bacteria stick," lead author Peter Setlow explained to Business Insider.

研究報(bào)告的主要作者彼得-塞特洛對(duì)商業(yè)內(nèi)幕網(wǎng)說：“吹的風(fēng)越多，沾在手上的細(xì)菌也越多?！?/p>

"And there are a lot of bacteria in bathrooms."

“衛(wèi)生間里有很多細(xì)菌?！?/p>

The results are so yuck that Setlow himself has officially sworn off hand dryers. And now, the University of Connecticut offers paper towels as a hand dryer alternative.

研究結(jié)論太令人作嘔，塞特洛自己都正式棄用烘手器了。如今，康涅狄格大學(xué)在衛(wèi)生間里提供紙巾，代替烘手器。

Still, the average person doesn't need to freak out just yet. Setlow says that even though people who suffer from weak immune systems, like seniors, should avoid using hand dryers, the rest of us can probably handle it.

不過，普通人也無需過于擔(dān)心。塞特洛表示，盡管老年人等免疫系統(tǒng)薄弱的人應(yīng)該避免使用烘手器，其他人基本上不會(huì)有大礙。

Besides – just because hand dryers churn out a ton of bacteria, doesn't mean that bacteria is necessarily bad for you. After all, fungi, bacteria and other microbes are absolutely everywhere you go, and the vast majority of this menagerie doesn't make you sick.

此外，雖然烘手器會(huì)噴出大量細(xì)菌，但這些細(xì)菌也未必對(duì)身體有害。畢竟，真菌、細(xì)菌和其他微生物幾乎無處不在，而其中絕大部分都不會(huì)致病。

Plus, exposure to bacteria is an important part of building up your immune system so that you can live a long and healthy life.

另外，接觸細(xì)菌有助于增強(qiáng)免疫系統(tǒng)，讓自己健康長(zhǎng)壽。

And yes, while previous studies have found that bathroom hand dryers have the potential to spread diseases, the chances of this happening are not drastically higher because you're in a bathroom.

雖然曾有研究表明，衛(wèi)生間烘手器可能會(huì)傳播疾病，但這種狀況的發(fā)生概率并不因身處衛(wèi)生間而大幅升高。

"The restroom isn't that dangerous," Jack Gilbert, a microbiologist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, told Live Science back in 2016.

美國(guó)伊利諾斯州阿貢國(guó)家實(shí)驗(yàn)室的微生物學(xué)家杰克-吉爾伯特曾在2016年對(duì)生活科學(xué)網(wǎng)站說：“衛(wèi)生間沒有那么危險(xiǎn)。”

"The organisms which can grow there have a very low probability of being able to cause an infection."

“在衛(wèi)生間里滋生的有機(jī)體導(dǎo)致感染的概率非常低。”

Nor is it completely clear if paper towels are a better alternative.

此外，研究人員尚不確定紙巾是不是更好的選擇。

While some past studies have found that paper towels are more sanitary, other independent studies have found no significant difference between the bacterial colonies bestowed by paper towels and those bestowed by hand dryers.

此前一些研究表明，紙巾更加衛(wèi)生；但也有其他的獨(dú)立研究表明，紙巾傳播的菌落和烘手器傳播的菌落不存在顯著差異。

But if the thought of this study is still disturbing you, take comfort in this: Setlow and his team also found that retrofitting hand dryers with HEPA air filters reduced bacterial colonies four times over.

如果這還令你困擾，那再來看看這個(gè)：塞特洛和他的研究團(tuán)隊(duì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，在烘手器中加裝高效空氣過濾器能夠?qū)⒕鋽?shù)量減少至四分之一。

"Our obsession with overt sterilisation and cleanliness, our paranoia, is just not helpful," Gilbert told Live Science.

吉爾伯特告訴生活科學(xué)網(wǎng)站說：“我們對(duì)無菌和清潔的過分癡迷是一種偏執(zhí)，這沒有什么用?！?/p>

So whatever you do, just try to remember: regardless of how you dry your hands, you're bound to gather some bacteria one way or another.

所以無論你做什么，都要記住：無論烘干或擦干，你的手上總會(huì)沾上一些細(xì)菌。

And that's the gross truth.

這就是全部事實(shí)。

The study was published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在《應(yīng)用環(huán)境微生物學(xué)》期刊上。

來源：sciencealert、 煎蛋網(wǎng)

翻譯&編輯：yaning