Mucormycosis outbreaks have been linked to contaminated linen. We performed fungal cultures on freshly-laundered linens at 15 transplant and cancer hospitals. At 33% of hospitals, the linens were visibly unclean. At 20%, Mucorales were recovered from >10% of linens. Studies are needed to understand the clinical significance of our findings.
Keywords: Mucorales; Rhizopus; Syncephalastrum; healthcare linens; microbiologic surveillance.
Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2018.