Cleanliness of Linen and Clothing Items Professionally Laundered or Dry-Cleaned

We asked 14 professional cleaners (laundry services) to clean various unused (new) linen and clothing items with a microbial contamination level of <1 cfu/cm(2) and then evaluated the bacterial/fungal contamination of the laundered or dry-cleaned items. After laundering, 6 (21.4%) of the 28 samples from 4 of the 14 cleaners (28.6%) were contaminated (1-1,200 cfu/cm(2)). After dry-cleaning, 2 (7.1%) of the 28 samples from 2 (14.3%) of the 14 cleaners were contaminated (7-10 cfu/cm(2)). The main contaminant was Bacillus cereus. No sample of the laundered or dry-cleaned items showed Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, or Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination. All 14 cleaners investigated in this study used batch-type washing machines. Therefore, batch-type washing machines can cause contamination of linen and clothing items with B. cereus.