Your washing machine cleans your clothes, but what cleans it? In 2015 researchers looked at 70 residential washing machines and tested the detergent drawers and rubber door seals for fungi. Given the locations tested it was rather surprising that nearly 80% of the washing machines tested positive for fungi. But even more surprising was that 44% of the fungi belonged to either the Candida, Fusarium, or Exophiala genera, all of which contain opportunistic pathogens. The researchers pointed to the low soap and low water temperature characteristic of high efficiency washing machines as the factor that promotes fungus growth. Strangely enough three machines consistently imparted a bad smell to clothes and when tested for both fungi and bacteria it was discovered that fungi only made up 8% of the microbes. Maybe you should buy a cleaner for your washing machine BEFORE the clothes start to smell, and before your machine tries to kill you... or at least infect you.
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| From (Babič et al. 2015). Pictures C-G show microbes cultured from the detergent trays (A) and rubber door seals (B). |
Original article: Babič MN, Zalar P, Ženko B, Schroers H-J, Džeroski S, Gunde-Cimerman N (2015). Candida and Fusarium species known as opportunistic human pathogens from customer-accessible parts of residential washing machines. Fungal Biology 119: 95-113.
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