Home Hygiene and Health is the Portal dedicated to the Science and Practice of Home hygiene.
It is supported by IFH, the International Science Forum on Home Hygiene
IFH has prepared a paper, with the object to review the infection risks associated with clothing and household linens such as towels, bed linen and so on.
This includes data on how, and to what extent, these items become contaminated with pathogenic organisms and how they survive and are spread. This is reviewed together with data on the extent to which we are exposed to these agents in our daily lives. The paper also reviews epidemiological data and data from quantitative risk modeling techniques assessing the link between laundry hygiene and infectious disease risk. The extent of the risks associated with clothing etc is also assessed in relation to risks associated with other surfaces such as the hands, hand and food contact surfaces and so on.
Among the key conclusions you can read in page 30 of the document: Using shared cloth towels rather than individual paper towels and washing of sleeping mats less than once a week was also associated with a higher frequency of upper respiratory infection
This document was prepared as a special project by the IFH and the authors are: SF Bloomfield; M Exner; C Signorelli; KJ Nath; EA Scott
Read the full document at IFH website:
http://www.ifh-homehygiene.org/IntegratedCRD.nsf/eb85eb9d8ecd365280257545005e8966/d0e3b0f361079f1780257865003d43b1?OpenDocument
You can also read the document at ETS Website:
The infection risks associated with clothing and household linens
