Hospital germs survive common household washing machines

Are you a healthcare professional? Do you do your laundry at home, especially your work clothes? Well, then you might be harbouring dangerous pathogens, which might be putting the lives of your family and the people you interact with at risk. How? Your work clothes could be the carriers of pathogens. A new study found that healthcare workers who launder their uniforms at home could unknowingly contribute to the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections in hospitals.

Washing machines may increase the risk of antibiotic resistance

The study led by Katie Laird of De Montfort University found that washing machines at home may harbour potential pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes, which could have an impact on the domestic laundering of healthcare workers' uniforms. The study is published in the open-access journal PLOS One.

Infections that are hospital-acquired are a major public health concern, as they frequently involve antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Healthcare professionals, including nurses, often clean their uniforms at home, using domestic washing machines. These machines, however, don’t really ‘clean’ the clothes. Previous studies have revealed that bacteria can be transmitted through clothing, raising the question of whether these machines can sufficiently prevent the spread of dangerous microbes.

To further explores this, the researchers of the new study examined six models of home washing machines, and checked if these machines successfully decontaminated healthcare workers’ uniforms, by washing the contaminated fabric swatches in hot water, using a rapid or normal cycle. The results were shocking. They found that half of the machines did not disinfect the clothing during a rapid cycle, while one-third failed to clean sufficiently during the standard cycle.

They also sampled the biofilms from inside 12 washing machines. Upon close examination, including DNA sequencing, they found the presence of potentially pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes. Further investigations revealed that bacteria can develop resistance to domestic detergent, which also increases their resistance to certain antibiotics.

The findings of the new study suggest that many home washing machines fail to decontaminate healthcare worker uniforms. This not only affects them but also contributes to the spread of hospital-acquired infections and antibiotic resistance. The results of the study call for immediate action, and the researchers are proposing that the laundering guidelines given to healthcare workers should be revised to ensure that home washing machines are cleaning effectively. They also suggest that healthcare facilities could use on-site industrial machines to launder uniforms to improve patient safety and control the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
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“Our research shows that domestic washing machines often fail to disinfect textiles, allowing antibiotic-resistant bacteria to survive. If we’re serious about transmission of infectious disease via textiles and tackling antimicrobial resistance, we must rethink how we launder what our healthcare workers wear,” the authors of the study said.