Keeping It Clean: Hygiene of Textiles, Laundry Facility is Key to Preventing Infections
This report summarizes the imperatives of keeping healthcare textiles -- and the facility in which they are laundered and processed -- free from contaminants that may be implicated in healthcare-associated infections.
Editor's Take
The healthcare textiles-related outbreak at a children's hospital is a real-life example of what can happen when part of a system designed to protect patients falters. Five pediatric patients at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans died after they were exposed to a fungus on contaminated bed linens, according to news reports and studies from the literature. Between 2008 and 2009, the children contracted mucormycosis. A study led by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) medical officer determined that the linens were contaminated by fungal spores; the researchers noted that textiles were exposed to the outdoors at a laundry facility and the loading dock. Over the last four decades, 12 similar outbreaks were reported, according to the CDC. The clean textiles were inadvertently exposed to environmental contaminants such as dust in storage areas, or there was a breakdown in the laundering process.
Takeaways for Your Business
- Review outbreaks associated with healthcare textiles
- Learn how to keep healthcare textiles and the physical plant clean
- Discover best practices derived from a recent literature review
Beyond the Surface: Rethinking Environmental Hygiene Validation at Exchange25
June 30th 2025Environmental hygiene is about more than just shiny surfaces. At Exchange25, infection prevention experts urged the field to look deeper, rethink blame, and validate cleaning efforts across the entire care environment, not just EVS tasks.
A Controversial Reboot: New Vaccine Panel Faces Scrutiny, Support, and Sharp Divides
June 26th 2025As the newly appointed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met for the first time under sweeping changes by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the national spotlight turned to the panel’s legitimacy, vaccine guidance, and whether science or ideology would steer public health policy in a polarized era.
Getting Down and Dirty With PPE: Presentations at HSPA by Jill Holdsworth and Katie Belski
June 26th 2025In the heart of the hospital, decontamination technicians tackle one of health care’s dirtiest—and most vital—jobs. At HSPA 2025, 6 packed workshops led by experts Jill Holdsworth and Katie Belski spotlighted the crucial, often-overlooked art of PPE removal. The message was clear: proper doffing saves lives, starting with your own.
