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

如果你有洁癖，而且平时需要使用公共卫生间，可能这篇文章你根本读不下去。

Because it turns out, while bathroom hand dryers¹ can be more environmental than paper towels, they can also be a whirlpool of faecal matter.

因为事实是，虽然卫生间的烘手器比纸巾更环保，但它同时也会喷出污物。

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.

你或许不知道，在冲厕所时，如果没盖马桶盖，那么会有少量排泄物和细菌被冲到15英尺（约合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.

这还不够恶心，如今一项新研究发现，这些从马桶冲到空中的排泄物和细菌会被温暖的烘手器吸收，然后再直直地吹向你刚刚洗过的双手。

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.

康涅狄格大学的研究人员在学校多个卫生间的烘手器下方放置了培养皿，然后对结果进行分析。

While the plates that were exposed to normal bathroom air had about one bacterial³ colony present, the samples that were exposed to 30 seconds of hand dryer² air had 18 to 60 bacterial colonies per plate.

暴露在普通卫生间空气中的培养皿里有1个菌落，而在烘手器吹出的风中待30秒的培养皿里则有18-60个菌落。

The researchers concluded that "many kinds of bacteria, including potential pathogens and spores⁴, can be deposited on hands exposed to bathroom hand dryers."

研究人员得出结论称“烘手器会将多种细菌吹到人们手上，包括潜在的病原体和芽孢。”

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

研究报告的主要作者彼得-塞特洛对商业内幕网说：“吹的风越多，沾在手上的细菌也越多。”

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

“卫生间里有很多细菌。”

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.

研究结论太令人作呕，塞特洛自己都正式弃用烘手器了。如今，康涅狄格大学在卫生间里提供纸巾，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.

不过，普通人也无需过于担心。塞特洛表示，尽管老年人等免疫系统薄弱的人应该避免使用烘手器，其他人基本上不会有大碍。

Besides – just because hand dryers churn out a ton of bacteria, doesn't mean that bacteria is necessarily bad for you. After all, fungi⁵, bacteria and other microbes are absolutely everywhere you go, and the vast majority of this menagerie doesn't make you sick.

此外，虽然烘手器会喷出大量细菌，但这些细菌也未必对身体有害。毕竟，真菌、细菌和其他微生物几乎无处不在，而其中绝大部分都不会致病。

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，接触细菌有助于增强免疫系统，让自己健康长寿。

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.

虽然曾有研究表明，卫生间烘手器可能会传播疾病，但这种状况的发生概率并不因身处卫生间而大幅升高。

"The restroom isn't that dangerous," Jack⁶ Gilbert, a microbiologist at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, told Live Science back in 2016.

美国伊利诺斯州阿贡国家实验室的微生物学家杰克-吉尔伯特曾在2016年对生活科学网站说：“卫生间没有那么危险。”

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

“在卫生间里滋生的有机体导致感染的概率非常低。”

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

此外，研究人员尚不确定纸巾是不是更好的选择。

While some past studies have found that paper towels are more sanitary⁷, other independent studies have found no significant difference between the bacterial colonies bestowed⁸ by paper towels and those bestowed by hand dryers.

此前一些研究表明，纸巾更加卫生；但也有其他的独立研究表明，纸巾传播的菌落和烘手器传播的菌落不存在显著差异。

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.

如果这还令你困扰，那再来看看这个：塞特洛和他的研究团队发现，在烘手器中加装高效空气过滤器能够将菌落数量减少至四分之一。

"Our obsession⁹ with overt¹⁰ sterilisation and cleanliness, our paranoia¹¹, is just not helpful," Gilbert told Live Science.

吉尔伯特告诉生活科学网站说：“我们对无菌和清洁的过分痴迷是一种偏执，这没有什么用。”

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.

所以无论你做什么，都要记住：无论烘干或擦干，你的手上总会沾上一些细菌。

And that's the gross truth.

这就是全部事实。

The study was published in Applied¹² and Environmental Microbiology.

这项研究发表在《应用环境微生物学》期刊上。