Are Paper Towels Full of Bacteria?

People are always encouraged to wash their hands carefully after going to the bathroom. But a new study suggests that drying your hands on a paper towel could leave nasty bacteria on your skin. Canadian researchers found germs in six different brands of commercial paper towels. Those made from recycled paper had 100 to a 1,000 times more bacteria than those created from wood pulp. It turns out that the recycling process offers a lot of opportunity for bacteria to get a foothold in the paper because the machines may be coated with a bacterial biofilm. Although there is no evidence that such paper towels cause illness, air drying hands may be a safer and more environmentally appropriate solution to the problem of bacterial contamination.

[American Journal of Infection Control,Online Dec. 19, 2011]