Cargando…

Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines

Household washing machines (WMs) launder soiled clothes and textiles, but do not sterilize them. We investigated the microbial exchange occurring in five household WMs. Samples from a new cotton T-shirt were laundered together with a normal laundry load. Analyses were performed on the influent water...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Callewaert, Chris, Van Nevel, Sam, Kerckhof, Frederiek-Maarten, Granitsiotis, Michael S., Boon, Nico
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4672060/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26696989
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01381
_version_ 1782404494897709056
author Callewaert, Chris
Van Nevel, Sam
Kerckhof, Frederiek-Maarten
Granitsiotis, Michael S.
Boon, Nico
author_facet Callewaert, Chris
Van Nevel, Sam
Kerckhof, Frederiek-Maarten
Granitsiotis, Michael S.
Boon, Nico
author_sort Callewaert, Chris
collection PubMed
description Household washing machines (WMs) launder soiled clothes and textiles, but do not sterilize them. We investigated the microbial exchange occurring in five household WMs. Samples from a new cotton T-shirt were laundered together with a normal laundry load. Analyses were performed on the influent water and the ingoing cotton samples, as well as the greywater and the washed cotton samples. The number of living bacteria was generally not lower in the WM effluent water as compared to the influent water. The laundering process caused a microbial exchange of influent water bacteria, skin-, and clothes-related bacteria and biofilm-related bacteria in the WM. A variety of biofilm-producing bacteria were enriched in the effluent after laundering, although their presence in the cotton sample was low. Nearly all bacterial genera detected on the initial cotton sample were still present in the washed cotton samples. A selection for typical skin- and clothes-related microbial species occurred in the cotton samples after laundering. Accordingly, malodour-causing microbial species might be further distributed to other clothes. The bacteria on the ingoing textiles contributed for a large part to the microbiome found in the textiles after laundering.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4672060
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-46720602015-12-22 Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines Callewaert, Chris Van Nevel, Sam Kerckhof, Frederiek-Maarten Granitsiotis, Michael S. Boon, Nico Front Microbiol Microbiology Household washing machines (WMs) launder soiled clothes and textiles, but do not sterilize them. We investigated the microbial exchange occurring in five household WMs. Samples from a new cotton T-shirt were laundered together with a normal laundry load. Analyses were performed on the influent water and the ingoing cotton samples, as well as the greywater and the washed cotton samples. The number of living bacteria was generally not lower in the WM effluent water as compared to the influent water. The laundering process caused a microbial exchange of influent water bacteria, skin-, and clothes-related bacteria and biofilm-related bacteria in the WM. A variety of biofilm-producing bacteria were enriched in the effluent after laundering, although their presence in the cotton sample was low. Nearly all bacterial genera detected on the initial cotton sample were still present in the washed cotton samples. A selection for typical skin- and clothes-related microbial species occurred in the cotton samples after laundering. Accordingly, malodour-causing microbial species might be further distributed to other clothes. The bacteria on the ingoing textiles contributed for a large part to the microbiome found in the textiles after laundering. Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-12-08 /pmc/articles/PMC4672060/ /pubmed/26696989 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01381 Text en Copyright © 2015 Callewaert, Van Nevel, Kerckhof, Granitsiotis and Boon. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Callewaert, Chris
Van Nevel, Sam
Kerckhof, Frederiek-Maarten
Granitsiotis, Michael S.
Boon, Nico
Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines
title Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines
title_full Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines
title_fullStr Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines
title_full_unstemmed Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines
title_short Bacterial Exchange in Household Washing Machines
title_sort bacterial exchange in household washing machines
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4672060/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26696989
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2015.01381
work_keys_str_mv AT callewaertchris bacterialexchangeinhouseholdwashingmachines
AT vannevelsam bacterialexchangeinhouseholdwashingmachines
AT kerckhoffrederiekmaarten bacterialexchangeinhouseholdwashingmachines
AT granitsiotismichaels bacterialexchangeinhouseholdwashingmachines
AT boonnico bacterialexchangeinhouseholdwashingmachines