Microbicidal Action of Heat, Detergents and Active Oxygen Bleach as Components of Laundry Hygiene

It is known that decreasing temperatures in laundry can have a significant impact on the hygiene efficacy of laundering. This study used suspension tests to investigate the microbicidal effects of heat, detergent and activated oxygen bleach and their contributions to laundry hygiene. The results indicate that heat at 60 degrees C contributes significantly to the microbicidal action, while detergent only has limited effects. Activated oxygen bleach strongly enhances the microbicidal action and thus has the potential to compensate for the loss of antimicrobial efficacy due to temperature decrease. This effect varied with the test strain and the temperature, and further work is needed to determine whether it is possible to achieve a hygiene effectiveness equivalent to that at 60 degrees C across both fungal and bacterial strains.