Germaphobes: New Technology Makes Clothes Germ-Free

Do you carry hand sanitizer around with you and use it like it’s your lifesaver? Do you wash your hands at least once each hour? Do you dread touching door knobs and faucets in public bathrooms? Do you buy everything you can that has an “anti-bacterial” label on it? If so, you are a germaphobe like me. Yay!

Clothes are interesting because you’d think they’d have a lot of germs on them, right? That’s what I thought too. Then I wrote Science: He Wore Jeans For 15 Months Without Washing Them. I learned that surprisingly, blue jeans aren’t that germy. Hmm… I’m still skeptical about that research.

If you are concerned about germs on clothes, you will like this. There is a new technology discovered by a scientist at the University of Georgia which makes even the most disgustingly dirty clothes permanently germ-free. It comes in the form of a spray that simply gets sprayed on the material. The best part is that it doesn’t come off or get weaker when the clothes are washed.

You can read the full article with all the geeky scientific details at Ecouterre. Apparently the solution “kills a host of dangerous pathogens including E. coli, staph, strep and acetinobacter on both natural (cotton, wool) and synthetic fibers (woven plastic).” Will this make washing machines obsolete? Probably not since we’ll still need a method to remove stains (even if they are germ-free stains). If you read this press release, you will suddenly realize all the applications for this incredible new technology. Wow, I feel cleaner already.