] [ar:Christopher Cruise] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Health Report. [00:06.46]Automatic faucets use [00:08.16]an electronic sensor [00:10.05]to start and stop [00:11.49]the flow of water [00:13.48]when people wash their hands. [00:17.13]These faucets save [00:18.17]a lot of water, [00:19.91]which is one reason [00:20.96]they are found [00:22.96]in busy public bathrooms. [00:25.35]Another reason is [00:27.25]because of concerns about [00:28.84]the spread of infection [00:31.14]by people touching the handles [00:33.78]on traditional faucets. [00:35.92]Hospitals started using [00:37.36]automatic faucets [00:39.25]about ten years ago. [00:41.55]But a new study [00:43.84]at one hospital finds [00:46.00]that these devices may not [00:47.44]always be worth [00:49.68]the savings in water use. [00:52.52]Researcher took apart [00:54.57]twenty automatic faucets [00:56.41]at Johns Hopkins Hospital [00:58.31]in Baltimore, Maryland. [00:59.97]They found that [01:02.75]half contained Legionella bacteria, [01:05.30]compared to fifteen percent [01:07.24]of manual faucets. [01:10.49]Healthy people rarely get sick [01:11.68]from the bacteria. [01:13.72]So the study [01:15.97]should not concern most users [01:17.78]of automatic faucets [01:19.52]in public bathrooms. [01:22.41]But Legionella bacteria [01:24.25]can cause a form of [01:25.48]pneumonia in people [01:28.22]with weakened immune systems. [01:30.16]These include patients [01:31.27]with diseases [01:34.20]like cancer and HIV/AIDS, [01:36.35]and those who have recently [01:38.59]had an organ transplant. [01:40.98]After their first tests, [01:44.32]the researchers cleaned the water system [01:46.63]with chlorine dioxide. [01:48.33]But they found that [01:49.93]twenty-nine percent of [01:51.42]the automatic faucets [01:53.46]were still contaminated [01:54.90]with bacteria. [01:56.85]That compared to [01:58.39]seven percent of [02:00.18]the manual faucets. [02:03.57]The researchers have some theories. [02:06.41]Dr. Emily Sydnor says [02:08.35]the automatic faucets [02:09.80]contain more parts, [02:11.99]so there are more areas [02:13.94]where bacteria could grow. [02:18.03]Also, the reduced water pressure [02:20.18]in low-flow faucets [02:21.58]might not remove [02:24.28]as much bacteria from surfaces. [02:25.68]EMILY SYDNOR: "We think that, [02:26.58]one, the pieces and [02:27.88]the parts inside [02:29.58]are sort of providing places [02:30.84]and surface area for bacteria [02:31.74]to get trapped [02:33.29]and probably promoting something [02:34.48]called bio-film formation, [02:35.88]which is essentially [02:37.47]just a colony of bacteria [02:38.91]that can sort of coexist [02:40.32]in a little slime [02:41.08]and a little, [02:42.80]almost a little colony of it [02:43.89]that it's hard to get rid of. [02:45.48]And that, combined with [02:46.53]the low water flow, [02:48.05]is probably promoting the growth." [02:49.75]Six other studies [02:51.00]have also found [02:52.89]higher amounts of bacteria [02:54.78]in automatic faucets. [02:56.98]The latest study [02:58.35]was presented Saturday [02:59.90]at a meeting of [03:01.00]the Society [03:03.24]for Health Care Epidemiology [03:04.98]in Dallas, Texas. [03:06.97]The study has not yet [03:08.27]been published. [03:09.60]But the results [03:10.79]have persuaded [03:12.13]Johns Hopkins Hospital [03:13.48]to replace [03:15.27]its automatic faucets [03:17.06]with manual ones. [03:19.57]The Chicago Faucet Company [03:21.21]supplies the hospital [03:22.61]with automatic [03:24.20]and manual faucets. [03:25.89]Patrick Kimener, [03:28.28]the senior vice president of sales, [03:30.12]said he had not seen [03:31.36]the full study. [03:32.88]PATRICK KIMENER: "Our company has been around [03:34.17]for a hundred and ten years. [03:35.91]We've been a long-term supplier [03:36.55]for an awful [03:37.89]lot of health care facilities [03:38.69]in the U.S. [03:39.73]and we're more than [03:40.53]interested to find out [03:42.28]what those findings would be." [03:46.31]And that's the VOA Special English [03:47.35]Health Report. [03:52.44]I'm Christopher Cruise