Are You Really in the Know?

Are You Really in the Know?

By William H Harriss FBII. 31/12/2022

?As an in-the-know member of the hotel industry, how many times have you stayed in a hotel where you wondered about the hygiene and cleanliness of the bedding? What can you actually catch from sleeping on an unclean bed? Even if the sheets and pillowcases have been changed, what about the pillow itself or the bedspread or blanket?

If you really know about hotel bedding you will hopefully be aware that actual pillows, bedspreads, and blankets may only be washed a few times during their lifetime but almost never sterilized. Yet worse than that there are numerous hotels where those items of bedding are never washed during their lifetime and that does not just put the guest at risk, it also creates a seriously dangerous situation for hotel housekeeping bedroom staff.

There are also other pillow dangers from some hotels that are using pillow enclosures impregnated with chemicals, or heavy metals, and some are silver impregnated. Scientists say these can be dangerously damaging if breathed, and when washed contaminate wastewater discharge which is killing and deforming millions of fish.

There are hundreds of diseases that can contaminate pillows, bedspreads, and blankets. That means there are hundreds of diseases the hotel guest and hotel staff can become contaminated with.

Influenza: People with flu can spread it to others. Most experts think that flu viruses spread mainly by droplets made when people with flu cough, sneeze or talk. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby (usually within about 6 feet away) or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.

But it is also proven to be possible for a person to get flu by touching a surface or object that has the flu virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. Also, a contaminated person can breathe the virus into a bed pillow where it can wait for a few days and to contaminate the next bed occupant and even the hotel staff.

Hepatitis: A virus can survive outside the body for months. HAV can survive certain acids and some heat and survive in dried faeces. Other Hepatitis viruses such as HBV and HCV can live from 16 hours to up to a week.

C. Difficille: Researchers have known since 2005 that "superbugs" like C. Difficille, which is found mainly in hospitals, can live for weeks in bedding and can even be resistant to bleach.

Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): is a relatively common bacterium found on the skin and nasal surfaces of healthy people and animals. MRSA has caused outbreaks in schools and gyms, transmitted through contact with towels, unsterilized pillows and other bedding are also dangerous.

Aspergillus mould: A 2005 study by the University of Manchester, published in the journal Allergy, suggested that most normal bed pillows will have aspergillus mould growing in them — possibly because it feeds off dust mite faeces.

The mould most commonly causes allergic reactions, triggering symptoms such as wheezing and coughing. This is a particular problem in people with asthma, exacerbating symptoms in one in 40 people. But it can also cause a long-term, incurable infection in the lungs known as chronic pulmonary aspergillosis, which not only causes symptoms such as a severe cough and shortness of breath, but also fatigue and weight loss. If left untreated, it can cause serious and potentially fatal damage to the lungs

Chronic rhinosinusitis: Moulds responsible for respiratory and skin problems like eczema are virtually indestructible and can live almost anywhere. According to a 1999 Mayo clinic study, 93% of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) had allergenic fungal sinusitis. Moulds thrive in damp dark areas, like the air conditioner area in tropical climates. That smell when you first turn on the air conditioner in your hotel could be symptomatic of a mould problem.

If bedding has not been changed or cleaned properly, and in the case of bed pillows, are unsterilized. Transmission of the mould spore, bacteria and viruses are possible. Catching a virus from hotel bedding is probably a very common occurrence but to date, no one has fully investigated or proven it in a hotel situation, but wait and see that is coming very soon. ?It has already been recognised, proven, and dealt with in hospitals. In hotels, especially when you talk about padded headboards, quilted bedspreads, and pillows, which can retain enough moisture to enable a virus to live long enough to infect. If the guest before you had a bacterial infection and deposited that bacterium onto the headboard or pillow, then it's possible you could be infected. If an infected person had any of the more aggressive viruses [SARS and COVID-19] or bacterium, then it is almost positive you can catch it from the unsterilized bedding.

So, what about the rhinoviruses that cause colds, it needs living cells to stay alive. Without these cells, found in bodily fluids like blood, mucous or saliva, viruses have a short lifespan, between a few seconds and 48 hours, depending on the surface. Viruses tend to live longer on nonporous surfaces, like doorknobs, than on porous surfaces, like fabrics. But if the fabric is dampened with enough fluid, a head from the shower, sweat, mucous, saliva or faecal matter, the virus may persist for much longer periods.

While it is highly unlikely that you will encounter infection in a properly sterilized hotel bed, it is very possible when bedding has not been changed between changes of guests, and if is still damp with the previous guests’ infected bodily fluids.

Remember, washing bedding is not sterilizing unless washed and dried at very high temperatures. Sterilizing can be applied with the use of strong bleach and certain chemicals. The use of chemicals is ill-advised because many people are allergic to chemicals and the residue that remains when used on bedding.

People can still get infections from washed bedding.

I manufacture and market here in Mexico the Rayo Azul MkIII sterilizing chamber which works with self-generated ozone gas. Will sterilize up to 400 pillows a day at a very low cost and is a tax-deductible capital safety equipment item. Safe, simple, and swift in its operation, and uses less power than a low-wattage hairdryer. Leaves absolutely no chemical residue and sterilizes to 99.99% against all viruses and bacteria known to man [renders mould spore inert].

william