Purpose and Goals
- Evaluate and compare the antimicrobial activity of laundry sanitizer and/or disinfectant products in laboratory-controlled testing.
Testing
- Textile materials are inoculated with bacteria, fungus, or virus, wrapped around a standard spindle device (to mimic fabric bundling in real-life washing machines), and placed into individual laundry simulators (laundrometer) with standard wash water for a specified contact time. The remaining microbes in each laundry chamber are then cultured for either quantitative results (for sanitizers) or qualitative results (for disinfectants).
- This testing will include 5% organic soil (serum or a mixture of tryptone/BSA/mucin) in the inoculum solution.
- Each test will include one microbial strain:
- Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 (a standard test strain) Gram-positive bacteria
- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 33592 (MRSA) Gram-positive bacteria
- Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 4352 (a standard test strain) Gram-negative bacteria
- Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC BAA-1705 (KPC, CRE) Gram-negative bacteria
- Candida auris CDC B11903 fungus
- Staphylococcus epidermidis ATCC 35984 Gram-positive bacteria
- Salmonella enterica ATCC 10708 (formerly known as S. choleraesuis) Gram-negative bacteria
- Salmonella enterica ATCC 14028 (formerly known as S. typhimurium) Gram-negative bacteria
- Shigella flexneri ATCC 12022 Gram-negative bacteria
- Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 (a standard test strain) Gram-negative bacteria
- Escherichia coli ATCC 43888 (an O157:H7 strain) Gram-negative bacteria
- Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644 Gram-positive bacteria
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 9027 or 15442 Gram-negative bacteria
- Bacillus subtilis ATCC 19659 or 6633 Gram-positive bacterial spores
- Clostridioides difficile ATCC BAA-1870 or 43598 (formerly known as Clostridium difficile) Gram-positive bacterial spores
- Human Coronavirus strain OC43 (HCoV-OC43) ATCC VR-1558, an enveloped RNA betacoronavirus like the recent pandemic strain SARS-CoV-2
- Human Coronavirus strain 229E (HCoV-229E) ATCC VR-740, an enveloped RNA alphacoronavirus
- Human Coronavirus strain NL63 (HCoV-NL63) NIAID-BR NR-470, an enveloped RNA alphacoronavirus
- Influenzavirus A (H1N1) ATCC VR-1469, an enveloped RNA virus
- Influenzavirus A (H3N2) ATCC VR-1680, an enveloped RNA virus
- Feline Calicivirus (FCV) strain F-9 ATCC VR-782, a non-enveloped RNA virus laboratory surrogate for human norovirus
- Alternate strains can be validated for testing upon request for a New Strain Fee of $1,000-$5,000.
- Note: Optional GLP services are available for an additional 25% fee.
Data Analysis
- Data will be calculated to determine the quantifiable bacterial/fungal burden in colony-forming units per carrier (CFU/carrier) or viral burden in plaque- or foci-forming units per carrier (PFU/carrier or FFU/carrier) remaining on each test location.
- Data will be analyzed to determine the consistency between replicate carriers (sample size n=3).
- Data will be analyzed to compare the efficacies of each testing condition to determine the percent reductions and log reductions of microbial burdens compared to unexposed carriers.
Turn Around Time
- Bacterial/fungal (per strain): 4-6 weeks following receipt of the test devices.
- Viral (per strain): 6-8 weeks following receipt of the test devices