Doctors washing work clothes in domestic washing machines are an infection risk, study warns
Skip the rapid cycle as only half the models decontaminated fabric on that program, a UK study finds.
Doctors and nurses who wash their work clothes in their home washing machines may be contributing to hospital-acquired infections and the rise of microbial-resistant bacteria, UK researchers say.
Their test of six domestic washing machines found that half of the models did not disinfect fabric samples contaminated with Enterococcus faecium bacteria during a 60°C rapid cycle.
And a third failed during a standard 60°C cycle, wrote the team, from De Montfort University in Leicester, UK.
“Healthcare workers’ uniforms can serve as fomites for pathogenic micro-organisms, transferring them from hospital environments to domestic laundering machines,” they said.
