laundry

Awareness of ways of minimising germ transfer is relevant to all.

This research applies in all countries and is relevant to students as well as families and health care professionals.

Minimising bacterial transfer in school settings is an under-researched area. The impact of home laundering of health care professionals’ uniforms is also an under-researched area.

The evidence for this guide is based on research conducted at De Montfort University on the ability of bacteria to survive on textiles and effectiveness of different domestic wash cycles to remove bacterial contamination from textiles. The wash parameters investigations conducted have been based on survey evidence on the most regularly used domestic wash cycle, temperatures and detergents by UK NHS nurses.

Resources

1. To ensure safe, regulated laundering of textiles from the school or healthcare environment a minimum temperature of 60°C should be used in a wash cycle no shorter than 10 minutes, using detergent.
2. Textile items from the school or healthcare environment should be washed separately to other items to prevent cross contamination to other clothing items or the environment.

With rises in Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs) and antibiotic resistance, understanding possible transmissions routes of bacteria is paramount. One such route could be through textiles. It is well reported that microorganisms are able to survive on both inanimate and textile surfaces for extended periods of time (Burden et al., 2013, Fijan and Turk, 2012).  In recent years the focus on textiles as a possible route of infection has increased (Mitchell et al. 2015).

This guide provides specialist knowledge for:

- students and science teachers in the secondary school

- schools/nurseries to ensure that correct laundering parameters are being used for decontamination of textile items used within the school environment

- families wishing to implement hygienic practices based on research

With rises in Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs) and antibiotic resistance, understanding possible transmissions routes of bacteria is paramount. One such route could be through textiles.

In the school or nursery environment items such as hand towels shared by children or textiles found in the kitchen environment should also be decontaminated thoroughly as a standard infection control procedure.