[Can industrial laundry remove Bacillus cereus from hospital linen?].
Contaminated hospital linen has caused some cases of Bacillus cereus bacteremia in Japan. We analyzed the disinfection efficacy of industrial washing of hospital towels and sheets by counting the number of B. cereus on linen before and after washing. That before washing averaged 7.6 cells/cm2 on unwashed sheets, decreasing to 1.2 cells/cm2 after washing. That on unwashed towels, however, averaged 10(6) cells/cm2 before washing and 1096 cells/cm2 after washing, which was very high and suggested the possibility of causing nosocomial infection.
Pathogenic Microbes Repository Unit, International Research Center for Infectious Diseases.
Myonsun
M
Yoh
Junko
J
Matsuyama
Akiko
A
Shime
Kana
K
Okayama
Rei
R
Sakamoto
Takeshi
T
Honda
D001409:Bacillus cereus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D001512:Bedding and Linens / Q000382:microbiology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D007847:Laundry Service, Hospital