Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct;50(10):1178-1181.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2022.06.026. Epub 2022 Jul 19.

Keeping health care linens clean: Underrecognized hazards and critical control points to avoid contamination of laundered health care textiles

Janet Glowicz  1 , Isaac Benowitz  2 , Matthew J Arduino  2 , Ruoran Li  3 , Karen Wu  4 , Alexander Jordan  5 , Mitsuru Toda  5 , Kelley Garner  6 , Jeremy A W Gold  5
Affiliations

Keeping health care linens clean: Underrecognized hazards and critical control points to avoid contamination of laundered health care textiles

Janet Glowicz et al. Am J Infect Control. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Outbreaks of health care-associated infections, particularly invasive mold infections, have been linked to environmental contamination of laundered health care textiles. Contamination may occur at the laundry or health care facility. This report highlights underrecognized hazards, control points, and actions that infection preventionists can take to help decrease the potential for patient exposure to contaminated health care textiles. Infection preventionists can use the checklists included in this report to assess laundry and health care facility management of laundered health care textiles.

Keywords: Health care associated infections; Health care linens; Health care textiles; Hospital laundry; Mucormycosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no potential conflicts of interest. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Arkansas Department of Health. This activity was reviewed by CDC and was conducted consistent with applicable federal law and CDC policy (see e.g., 45 C.F.R. part 46.102(l)(2), 21 C.F.R. part 56; 42 U.S.C. §241(d); 5 U.S.C. §552a; 44 U.S.C. §3501 et seq.).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point framework for keeping clean healthcare linens clean. Footnote: Icons for this diagram were obtained from the Noun Project (https://thenounproject.com/). The icons were created by Vectorify (laundry facility), Circlonteach (washing machine) Andrejs Kirma (truck), and Fran Couto (healthcare facility).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Sehulster LM. Healthcare Laundry and Textiles in the United States: Review and Commentary on Contemporary Infection Prevention Issues. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2015; 36(9): 1073–88. - PubMed
    1. Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI). Processing Of Reusable Surgical Textiles For Use In Health Care Facilities. ANSI/AAMI ST65:2008 (R2018). Arlington, VA.
    1. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers. ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170–2021. Ventilation of Health Care Facilities. 2021.
    1. Sehulster L, Chinn RY. Guidelines for environmental infection control in health-care facilities. Recommendations of CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC). MMWR Recommendations and reports : Morbidity and mortality weekly report Recommendations and reports 2003; 52(Rr-10): 1–42. - PubMed
    1. Sundermann AJ, Clancy CJ, Pasculle AW, et al. How Clean Is the Linen at My Hospital? The Mucorales on Unclean Linen Discovery Study of Large United States Transplant and Cancer Centers. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2018; 68(5): 850–3. - PMC - PubMed