title: Cleanliness of Linen and Clothing Items Professionally Laundered or Dry-Cleaned.
abstract: We asked 14 professional cleaners (laundry services) to clean various unused (new) linen and clothing items with a microbial contamination level of <1 cfu/cm(2) and then evaluated the bacterial/fungal contamination of the laundered or dry-cleaned items. After laundering, 6 (21.4%) of the 28 samples from 4 of the 14 cleaners (28.6%) were contaminated (1-1,200 cfu/cm(2)). After dry-cleaning, 2 (7.1%) of the 28 samples from 2 (14.3%) of the 14 cleaners were contaminated (7-10 cfu/cm(2)). The main contaminant was Bacillus cereus. No sample of the laundered or dry-cleaned items showed Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination. All 14 cleaners investigated in this study used batch-type washing machines. Therefore, batch-type washing machines can cause contamination of linen and clothing items with B. cereus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Yamaguchi University Hospital.
authors.forename: Shigeharu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oie
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Furukawa
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Okubo
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001512:Bedding and Linens / Q000382:microbiology*; D003020:Clothing; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006796:Household Work; D006801:Humans