UPB prof warns of hand dryer health risks

Petri dishes exposed to hand dryers from five fast food restaurants along Session Road. Photo credits to Sir Ronan Baculi.

Assistant Professor from University of the Philippines Baguio (UPB) advised people to refrain from using fast food restaurants’ hand dryers to prevent  possible disease-causing bacteria.

Assistant Professor Ronan Baculi from the College of Science (CS) posted on his social media account on Tuesday the findings of his students' laboratory report regarding microorganisms found in hand dryers from five fast-food restaurants along Session Road.

The laboratory report confirmed that hand dryers expose us to more microbes as it sucks air from the surroundings and spurts it back out -- causing the microbes in the air to be transferred into one’s hands. However, Baculi’s students reiterate that microorganisms do not thrive inside the hand dryers, rather it comes from the air surrounding it.

“The way these hand dryers function, they will suck air from the establishments. For example, those hand dryers found inside comfort rooms will also spew out air from the comfort room itself. So, you are actually introducing more microbes to your body. Instead of becoming cleaner, it becomes dirtier,” Baculi explained in an interview.

The laboratory report submitted on February 7 entitled “Ubiquity Of Airborne Microorganisms Sampled From Hand Dryers Of Different Fast Food Restaurants Along Session Road '' was conducted by Professor Baculi’s students namely S.Y. Dang-aoen, A.M. Ele, A.M.T. Nacino, and M.K. Tronco.

The students prepared 10 Petri plates that were exposed for five minutes under hand dryers of the restaurants. They incubated the gathered samples for 48 hours to prompt the growth of the microorganisms, which later on revealed a diverse number of bacterial colonies.

Although Baculi assured that most of the organisms collected could be nonpathogenic, he also reminds people not to disregard the possibility that some of them could potentially cause diseases.

“I could say that most of them could be nonpathogenic because they are just normally found in the environment. But we cannot disregard the possibility that some of them could be pathogenic in nature,” the professor added.

Thus, Baculi emphasized the importance of maintaining a strong immune system, bringing disinfectants such as alcohol and sanitizers, and using paper towels instead of hand dryers.

“Based on our results, it is very important for us to bring alcohol and sanitizers. Just like what I said on social media, it is better to use paper towels. But sometimes restaurants cannot provide these; hence, it is best to bring your own tissue paper then use alcohol at the same time. I think that is the most important advice for now,” Baculi said.

No connection to COVID-19

According to Baculi, the experiment done by the students had no direct connection to the recent Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak as the experiment on the ubiquity of microorganisms is being done every semester as part of the laboratory manual in their Microbiology class.

“This experiment actually has nothing to do with the novel coronavirus outbreak. This experiment and ubiquity of microorganism is just a part of the experiments among the sets of experiments we’re doing every semester in the microbiology laboratory. So it’s actually part of the lab manual in basic microbiology,” Baculi clarified.

According to the students, their experiment was motivated by their concern on how effective hand dryers are in eliminating bacteria as students usually dine in these fast food restaurants.

“As students, most of us go to fast food chains to buy food; and before we eat, we normally wash and dry our hands first to get rid of the dirt. Now as BS Biology students, we were concerned as to how effective hand dryers really are in eliminating bacteria--seeing as most of them are situated inside, or near bathroom stalls,” Mary Kathleen Tronco said.

The college had been conducting studies about the ubiquity of microorganisms in various types of environment usually targeting the extreme and dirtiest environments possible.

“In the past, we’ve been looking at the ubiquity of microorganisms in different types of environment -- extreme environments, water systems, in air, solid surfaces. We usually target the dirtiest environment possible like the doorknob, surface of tables and chairs in restaurants-- things like that,” the professor said.

The students considered areas of public concern such as roads, malls, and water or toilets in restaurants due to the recent outbreak. Baculi clarified that unlike the recent COVID-19 outbreak, their study focused on microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi only because of the difficulty in isolating viruses, especially if they are disease-causing.

“Due to the recent outbreak, we considered areas or environments of public health concern. So, I know that the recent outbreak is (about) viruses, but in our study, we focused on microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. Because in the laboratory it will be quite difficult and challenging to isolate viruses, and we cannot just isolate viruses especially if these viruses are pathogenic,” Baculi added.

Timely procedures

Baculi also emphasized that this type of study is not new anymore and that their present study has been backed up by many studies conducted abroad. However, he said that the microorganisms isolated in the Philippines are not the same as the ones found abroad even though the same procedures are applied.

“The principle here, is that in different types of environments there will be different groups of microorganisms which are present. So, we cannot say that those microorganisms isolated abroad using the same protocol will be the same organism in the Philippines. I am sure that we will have different sets of bacteria here in the Philippines because we have different environmental factors that would lead to different populations of cells,” the professor clarified.

As the experiments done by the college are connected to their next set of experiments, the complete findings of the study-- together with the results of the pathogenicity of the microorganisms, will be released around March or April this year. There are still different tests and analysis to be done to know the characteristics of the bacteria.

You can check out Ronan Baculi’s Facebook post here: https://www.facebook.com/ronan.baculi/posts/10206698335694103

By: Agatha Mateo and Valerie Nuval