Reduction in bacterial contamination of hospital textiles by a novel silver-based laundry treatment

John J Openshaw; William M Morris; Gregory V Lowry; Aydin Nazmi

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2016.06.021

Reduction in bacterial contamination of hospital textiles by a novel silver-based laundry treatment

Am J Infect Control. 2016 Dec 1;44(12):1705-1708. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2016.06.021. Epub 2016 Aug 22.

Authors

John J Openshaw¹, William M Morris², Gregory V Lowry³, Aydin Nazmi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Electronic address: jjo@stanford.edu.
² Applied Silver, Hayward, CA.
³ Civil & Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.
⁴ Department of Food Science and Nutrition, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.

PMID: 27561434
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2016.06.021

Abstract

Treating hospital patient textiles with ionic silver after each washing results in a significant decrease in microbial contamination. Although further study is needed to better understand the role textiles play in hospital-acquired infections and to quantify the influence of silver textile treatment on health care-associated infection risk and patient outcomes, ionic silver treatment of textiles may prove useful in hospital-acquired infection reduction strategies.

Keywords: Hospital-associated infections; MRSA; Silver ion; Staphylococcus aureus.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Bacteria / isolation & purification*
Disinfectants / administration & dosage*
Disinfection / methods*
Housekeeping, Hospital / methods*
Humans
Silver / administration & dosage*
Textiles / microbiology*

Substances

Disinfectants
Silver