Washing machines: An unexpected source of antimicrobial resistance
A malfunctioning washing machine can be the cause of annoyance and inconvenience if it stops mid-cycle or does not drain, meaning clothes do not get washed properly, or at best, take longer than usual to dry if the spin cycle is off-kilter.
But ineffective machines could be having a more dangerous impact than just being unable to erase a food stain or coffee splash: they could be spreading antimicrobial resistance by failing to rid clothes of some bacteria.
Among the germs surviving on laundry are Staphylococcus aureus (which causes a range of skin and respiratory infections) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (which, as the name suggests, can cause pneumonia).
'Our research shows that domestic washing machines often fail to disinfect textiles, allowing antibiotic-resistant bacteria to survive,' said Britain's De Montfort University professor of microbiology Dr Katie Laird, whose team's study was published in the medical journal PLOS One.
'If we're serious about transmission of infectious disease via textiles and tackling antimicrobial resistance, we must rethink how we launder what our healthcare workers wear,' she said, after her team tried out six home washing machine models to see if they could successfully decontaminate healthcare worker uniforms.
The team found that when they washed contaminated fabric in hot water, three of the machines 'did not disinfect the clothing during a rapid cycle', while two 'failed to clean sufficiently during the standard cycle'.
Worse still, the team found that bacteria can develop resistance to domestic detergents, which in turn can render certain antibiotics ineffective against them.
Doctors and scientists have been warning in recent years that overuse and misuse of antibiotics, including as an ingredient in animal feed or as a default medication at the first sign of illness in babies or toddlers, could lead to an 'antibiotic apocalypse'.
Between 1.2 million and 4.9 million people worldwide are killed each year by infections after antibiotics do not work, according to University of Oxford estimates published by The Lancet medical journal in 2022, which also published a paper last year (2024) suggesting that at least 700,000 of those deaths could be prevented by making clean water more widely available and improving sanitation. – dpa
ALSO READ: Study: Superbugs expected to kill 39 million by 2050
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