When we wash our clothes we expect them to be clean, right?
A recent study shows there may be germs in the laundry! has more on the hidden bacteria that may be lurking inside our washing machines and what we can do to get rid of them.
Between her active two year old and her equally active husband, Amy Hare doesn't really have a choice but to stay active herself -in the laundry room. “Oh, yeah, we could do laundry everyday. Even when rugby's not in season, you still go to the gym everyday, so you have those clothes, plus your day clothes, so it's a lot.
” But Amy could actually be spreading more germs than she is washing them away. A recent study tested 100-household washing machines and found more than half tested positive for Coliform bacteria, an indicator of fecal contamination. Scientists say the bacteria came primarily from underwear.
So, just how clean is the hare's machine?
We called on Nikki Marhefka, a Professor of Science at Central Penn College, to find out. Before she swabbed the family's washing machine, she first took samples of two other household machines just to compare.
The first was less than three months old and used by a couple with no children. The second was about five years old, used by a single woman with no children. 24-hours later we got our results.
“Washer number one was fairly new and we didn't find anything there, so I'm not surprised.” Washer number two did show a small trace of enteric bacteria, which is a sign of fecal matter. What about the Hare's nearly decade-old machine?
It also showed traces of bacteria, the kind that probably came from a cold. Marhefka says none of the owners of the washing machines we tested have anything to worry about.
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