Molecular Detection of Methicillin-Resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> in Hospital Linen
Department of Clinical Microbiology and Hospital Infection Control Unit, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Corresponding Author: Islam R, Doctus Journal of Microbiology & Immunology.
Abstract
Hospital linen is a plausible but under-studied reservoir in the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. We sampled 480 linen items at four points in the laundry cycle across two hospitals, screening by culture and confirming mecA and nuc genes by multiplex polymerase chain reaction. MRSA was recovered from 11.7% of soiled items and, critically, from 2.9% of items after processing, with all post-wash positives traced to a single facility operating below the recommended thermal disinfection temperature. Molecular typing indicated clonal overlap with contemporaneous clinical isolates. Routine thermal validation of laundry processes is a low-cost and currently neglected component of infection control.
Keywords
MRSA; Hospital Linen; mecA; Infection Control; Multiplex PCR; Thermal Disinfection
How to Cite
Islam R, Nandy S and Roy N. “Molecular Detection of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hospital Linen”. Doctus Journal of Microbiology & Immunology 1.1 (2026): 09-21.
Copyright and Licence
© 2026 Islam R. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.