A brand new examine reveals that biofilms in washing machines might include potential pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes, posing doable dangers for laundering healthcare staff’ uniforms at residence.
Washing healthcare uniforms at residence could possibly be inadvertently aiding the unfold of antibiotic-resistant infections inside hospitals, in response to new analysis led by Katie Laird of De Montfort College. The findings had been just lately revealed within the open-access journal PLOS One.
Hospital-acquired infections stay a severe public well being difficulty, partly as a result of they typically contain micro organism immune to antibiotics. Whereas many healthcare professionals launder their uniforms at residence utilizing standard washing machines, earlier analysis has proven that clothes can function a automobile for bacterial transmission. This raises issues about whether or not residence washing strategies are enough to eradicate dangerous pathogens.
On this new examine, researchers examined six totally different fashions of home washing machines by laundering cloth swatches contaminated with micro organism beneath each speedy and customary hot-water cycles. Outcomes confirmed that fifty% of the machines didn’t successfully disinfect the samples in the course of the speedy cycle. Alarmingly, one-third additionally failed to totally decontaminate the materials even in the course of the longer, customary wash cycle.
Harmful Biofilms and Hidden Resistance
The crew additionally sampled biofilms from inside 12 washing machines. DNA sequencing revealed the presence of probably pathogenic micro organism and antibiotic resistance genes. Investigations additionally confirmed that micro organism can develop resistance to home detergent, which additionally elevated their resistance to sure antibiotics.
Collectively, the findings counsel that many residence washing machines could also be inadequate for decontaminating healthcare employee uniforms, and could also be contributing to the unfold of hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance. The researchers suggest that the laundering tips given to healthcare staff must be revised to make sure that residence washing machines are cleansing successfully. Alternatively, healthcare amenities might use on-site industrial machines to launder uniforms to enhance affected person security and management the unfold of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
The authors add: “Our analysis reveals that home washing machines typically fail to disinfect textiles, permitting antibiotic-resistant micro organism to outlive. If we’re severe about transmission of infectious illness by way of textiles and tackling antimicrobial resistance, we should rethink how we launder what our healthcare staff put on.”
Reference: “Home laundering of healthcare textiles: Disinfection efficacy and dangers of antibiotic resistance transmission” by Caroline Cayrou, Katie Silver, Lucy Owen, Jake Dunlop and Katie Laird, 30 April 2025, PLOS ONE.
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321467
This analysis was funded by De Montfort College and the Textile Providers Affiliation.
