It turns out that the electronic-eye, non-touch faucets installed at Johns Hopkins Hospital carry more bacteria than the old-fashioned, manual faucets they were meant to replace:
Cultures obtained from the faucets showed that 50 percent of water cultures from electronic faucets grew Legionella spp. compared to 15 percent of water cultures from manual faucets. Sydnor also found that 26 percent of water cultures from electronic faucets had significant growth on heterotrophic plate count (HPC) cultures, an estimate of the number of bacteria in the water, compared to 13 percent of water cultures from manual faucets. While the HPC rates were not statistically different, Sydnor believes the differences are worth noting.
Additionally, following a flush of the water system using chlorine dioxide the disparity between electronic and manual faucets persisted. After the cleaning, 29 percent of electronic faucet cultures were still contaminated with bacteria compared with seven percent of manual faucet cultures.
Sydnor speculated that the increased bacterial growth in electronic faucets may be due to contamination of the numerous parts and valves that make up the faucet. During the course of collecting water samples, researchers discovered that all of the electronic faucet parts grew Legionella spp.
(Hat tip to io9.)
This cracks me up. One of my favorite books while working as a non-clinical manager at a big hospital was the book Systemantics: How systems work and especially how they fail by John Gall. Now out of print, this slim volume predicts this outcome. (I just found out that you can get a newer edition, retitled The Systems Bible.) I think the relevant Law was Le Chatelier’s Principle: Complex systems tend to oppose their own proper function.
This finding would deserve a place of honor in his book, and is particularly relevant since Gall was a pediatrician.
There are a number of tongue-in-cheek Laws of Systemantics:
Le Chatelier’s Principle: Complex systems tend to oppose their own proper function. As systems grow in complexity, they tend to oppose their stated function.
Functionary’s Falsity: People in systems do not actually do what the system says they are doing.
The Operational Fallacy: The system itself does not actually do what it says it is doing.
The Fundamental Law of Administrative Workings (F.L.A.W.): Things are what they are reported to be. The real world is what it is reported to be. (That is, the system takes as given that things are as reported, regardless of the true state of affairs.)