Microbial Contamination in Coin - laundries and the Prevention Part I Bacterial contamination on the surfaces of wash - tubs

Bacterial contamination of wash-tubs in coin-laundries in Yamaguchi-city was examined by using ”Wipe off method”. The results were as follows : 1) Degree of bacterial remaining on the surfaces of wash-tubs of coin-laundry shops was similar to that of those of a hospital in the city. Number of contaminated bacteria were counted as 10^3~10^4cfu/100cm^2 on the average. 2) Those bacteria could be demonstrated for a long time on the tub-surface and most of them survived for 5 hours after washing. 3) Gram-positive cocci were found most frequently and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacilli followed, respectively. Those results suggest that the contaminants are supposed to be the derivates from the normal bacterial flora of human skin.