A brand new research reveals that biofilms in washing machines could include potential pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes, posing doable dangers for laundering healthcare employees’ uniforms at dwelling.
Washing healthcare uniforms at dwelling could possibly be inadvertently aiding the unfold of antibiotic-resistant infections inside hospitals, based on 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 critical public well being challenge, partly as a result of they typically contain micro organism proof against antibiotics. Whereas many healthcare professionals launder their uniforms at dwelling utilizing standard washing machines, earlier analysis has proven that clothes can function a car for bacterial transmission. This raises issues about whether or not dwelling washing strategies are ample to get rid of dangerous pathogens.
On this new research, researchers examined six completely different fashions of home washing machines by laundering material swatches contaminated with micro organism beneath each fast and customary hot-water cycles. Outcomes confirmed that fifty% of the machines didn’t successfully disinfect the samples through the fast cycle. Alarmingly, one-third additionally failed to completely decontaminate the materials even through the longer, customary wash cycle.
Harmful Biofilms and Hidden Resistance
The group additionally sampled biofilms from inside 12 washing machines. DNA sequencing revealed the presence of doubtless 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 dwelling 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 pointers given to healthcare employees must be revised to make sure that dwelling washing machines are cleansing successfully. Alternatively, healthcare services may 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 critical about transmission of infectious illness by way of textiles and tackling antimicrobial resistance, we should rethink how we launder what our healthcare employees 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.