Spores alone survive the bleach. Spores + fabric will survive the bleach. Hence treated fabric cannot be considered safe.
In theory, bleach could help decrease the adhesion of the spore to a surface. A possible mechanism would be if it oxidized — and so weakened/destroyed — some spiky organic hooks that the spores were using to adhere to the fabric.
Of course, agents other than bleach — things not normally considered biocides, in fact — would likely be a lot more effective at removing spores during fabric washing, since the goal is detachment, not lysing the spore.
The obvious things (detergents themselves, and other soaps) would work, of course, to varying degrees.
But also, less-obvious things could provide benefits here. For example, if spores tended to stay adhered to fabrics because they possessed a rough proteinous exosporium that acted sort of like nano-scale velcro, then conditioners (yes, like the kind you use in hair) might get that protein coat to relax and lay flatter, in a way that disrupts the velcro-like effect.
Lubricants might also work, by "filling up" the rough valleys of the spore's surface. (Of course, you'd then need an extra wash cycle to remove the lubricants.)
The downside to this magic stuff is that it's fairly expensive ($45 for 4 pounds). So, not for wanton use. But well worth it to solve tough problems or when time is more important than money.
I don't think it is. Isn't bleach itself an oxidizing agent?
Similarly why bleach wipes > soaking in bleach for disinfecting surfaces, as alluded to in this paper.
It might activate within the fabric if the conditions are right, but that's not very fast and you shouldn't be wearing scrubs contaminated by a nutritional substance for too long anyway.
I hear ya. But to mitigate any doubt they should have covered all their bases, or at least the base most inline witb real life.
This article explores surface disinfection (commonly bleach in the hospital). Although provider gowns are removed after entering contaminated rooms, disinfected surfaces commonly come into contact with provider scrubs which are not laundered in between same day patient encounters as well as other patients (such as the table of a CT or MRI).
I don’t see the gymnastics you’re referring to, other studies have looked at laundering processes which is not the focus of this study.
it's tempting because it seems obvious.
If X + Y = Z, X on surface + Y = Z _must_ follow, because "on surface" was just a hidden term in X + Y = Z anyway...right?
But, both biology and fabrics have a lot of hidden surface (pun intended :P)