Will a cold water wash really kill germs in very soiled clothing?

Question

What is necessary to kill germs like fecal coliform and fecal staff in clothing used to do work like fix sewer lines, muck out the barn, pick up garbage, or, in the case of health care workers, working with infected patients ? How hot should the wash water be? How do you disinfect the shoes and boots after you have been standing in the muck or sewage?

Answer 1

You don't have to kill the bacteria, only wash them off.

Answer 2

No washing technique kills _all_ germs.  They just kill enough of them that your body is able to fight off what's left.

If you want to be as safe as absolutely possible, you will need to pressure-steam all your clothing in an autoclave, which actually produces steam that is hotter than 100 deg celsius.  This is considered the gold standard in sterilization, but it _still_ does not guarantee killing every bacteria and virus.  Of course, most people don't have one of these devices handy, and it's pretty stupid to do anyway.  

The things that make the biggest difference in terms of washing things and killing more germs are, in order of importance:

- Mechanical agitation: it works by lifting germs off surfaces and tearing bacteria and viruses apart

- Soap:  it works not only by lifting germs off surfaces,but it damages the outer lining of many bacteria and viruses

- Heat: it works by making soap and mechanical agitation work better.  It also speeds drying, which dehydrates and kills many bacteria and viruses

So, in general, if you don't have warm water, cold water is still probably okay, just wash things for a bit longer and dry things as good as possible.  Even if you don't have soap, mechanical agitation (like a washing machine, or rubbing your hands under the faucet) is better than nothing.

Answer 3

I don't think the water in an average washing machine can get hot enough to kill bacteria anyway. What the hot water does it allows the detergent to more effectively remove the bacteria from the soiled surface / clothes. So definitely wash this stuff in hot water.