“Yes, clothes and towels can spread germs.”
United Kingdom National Health Service
“The overall conclusion from the 2011 and 2013 IFH reports is that that clothing, household linens etc. are risk factors for transmission of potentially harmful microbes in the family home“
International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene: Effectiveness of laundering processes used in domestic (home) settings October 2013
“Detergent washing produced only limited reductions in microbial contamination and cloths then stored at room temperature for 24 h showed increases in contamination due to multiplication of residual survivors.”
Investigations of the Effectiveness of Detergent Washing, Drying and Chemical Disinfection on Contamination of Cleaning Cloths
“Contaminated fabrics may pose a potential health risk by carrying pathogens from a variety of sources at home . . . in more than fifteen case studies and observational reports clothing items or linen were likely to be the source of infection.”
Laundry Hygiene-How to Get More Than Clean
“It was also demonstrated that viruses are readily transferred from contaminated cloths to uncontaminated clothes . . . Laundering practices in common use in the United States do not eliminate enteric and respiratory viruses from clothes”
Enteric Virus Survival During Household Laundering and Impact of Disinfection With Sodium Hypochlorite
“After one wash, 65% of terry cloth towels and 60% denim fabric squares were [virus] culture-positive”
Decontamination of Laundry Exposed to Microsporum Canis Hairs and Spores
“Clostridium difficile spores are able to survive laundering through a commercial washer extractor and may be contributing to sporadic outbreaks of CDI (Clostridium difficile infection).”
From Ward to Washer: The Survival of Clostridium Difficile Spores on Hospital Bed Sheets Through a Commercial UK NHS Healthcare Laundry Process
"Sterile fabrics of each type laundered with similar fabrics which contained virus often became contaminated by the virus during the laundering process."
Quantitative Studies on Fabrics as Disseminators of Viruses. V. Effect of Laundering on Poliovirus-Contaminated Fabrics
"Overall, the results in this study consistently demonstrate that reducing the laundry temperature is associated with a significant decrease in hygiene effectiveness against both bacteria and fungi."
Impact of Wash Cycle Time, Temperature and Detergent Formulation on the Hygiene Effectiveness of Domestic Laundering
“Low-temperature machine washing produced only partial reductions in viable methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus baumannii counts on swatches and resulted in cross contamination of other swatches in the same wash”
Decontamination of Laundry at Low Temperature With CuWB50, a Novel Copper-Based Biocidal Compound
"Contravening current trends for energy saving and environmental protection, laundering at low temperatures is not effective in eradicating fungal pathogens"
The Effect of Domestic Laundry Processes on Fungal Contamination of Socks
