Reduction in bacterial contamination of hospital textiles by a novel silver-based laundry treatment

•Patient textiles are contaminated with S aureus and MRSA before patient use.•Bacterial contamination of textiles increases with use.•Treating textiles with ionic silver after washing reduces bacteria contamination.•Silver treatment of textiles leads to reductions in S aureus and MRSA contamination.•Treating textiles with ionic silver may decrease hospital acquired infections.

Treating hospital patient textiles with ionic silver after each washing results in a significant decrease in microbial contamination. Although further study is needed to better understand the role textiles play in hospital-acquired infections and to quantify the influence of silver textile treatment on health care-associated infection risk and patient outcomes, ionic silver treatment of textiles may prove useful in hospital-acquired infection reduction strategies.