Washing everything at 30 degrees with a mild detergent is a health hazard: hygiene experts give advice

Created: 10/26/2022, 8:30 p.m

By: Juliane Gutmann

Not sorting laundry and chasing everything through the 30-degree wash cycle: This is the washing routine of many Germans.

That's not a good idea, according to researchers.

If you buy ecologically degradable detergent and choose the 30 degree Celsius wash cycle, you protect the environment and save electricity.

But this procedure can also have negative consequences for your own health.

In addition to other microorganisms, bacteria can also accumulate in the washing drum, for example bacteria of the 

species .

These cause skin infections, but can also cause pneumonia, heart valve infections and bone infections, as the specialist portal

informs.

The dangerous bacterium can also spread in washing machines, as the

reports.

The

lists the work of Martin Exner, Director at the Institute for Hygiene at the University of Bonn, who has shown that a wash cycle at 30 degrees Celsius with a mild color detergent favors the colonization of

in items of clothing in the washing machine.

At 60 degrees, it was much less common for microorganisms to spread in the washing machine.

If you wash your laundry properly, you ensure long-lasting radiance of the colors and prevent infections.

© Imago

Don't miss anything: You can find everything to do with health and well-being in the regular health newsletter from our partner Merkur.de.

Washed wrong: "Basically, we do everything to ensure that the microorganisms in the laundry do well"

Even on freshly washed laundry, large amounts of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi can cavort.

Although these are usually not harmful to a healthy person, according to the specialist medium

, the transmission of infectious diseases through the "bacterial spinner" washing machine is theoretically possible.

, the musty smell of freshly washed laundry can also be attributed to too many microbes in the washing drum

.

Washing at low temperatures or the use of bleach-free liquid detergents would promote the growth of germs in washing machines and on the laundry, it is said.

"Basically, we do everything to ensure that the microorganisms in the laundry do well," says biofilm expert Hans-Curt Flemming from the University of Duisburg, according to the

, summarizing our environmentally friendly and wallet-friendly washing behavior.

Hygiene survey

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Do without hygiene detergent - instead clean the washing machine more often

But nobody has to swing the chemical club now.

On the contrary: You should never use disinfecting hygiene detergents, as the Bavarian State Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry (stmelf) informs.

These would be among the biocidal products that kill insects, viruses and bacteria.

However, hygiene rinsers are of no use in the washing machine, as Professor Benjamin Eilts from the Chair for Applied Cleaning and Hygiene at Albstadt-Sigmaringen University explains.

He recommends not using any hygiene detergent because none of the products tested by him and his students had any effect, according to stmelf.

Instead, Eilts recommends running as many rinse cycles as possible, because this would mechanically wash away harmful organisms.

These viruses and bacteria make us sick

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The sun also kills many germs.

To do this, simply hang the laundry outside after washing and expose it to heat and UV rays.

, Thomas Hauer from the Freiburg Advice Center for Hygiene informs

that a 60-degree wash with heavy-duty detergent is sufficient to deal with most bacteria and fungi.

Even if you clean the washing machine from time to time, you don't need to worry, says Hauner.