Investigation on pH value of towels in public places in Hangzhou City / 预防医学

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the pH value of towels in public places in Hangzhou City, so as to provide the evidence for improving health supervision of towels in public places.@*Methods@#One three- and higher-star hotel, one less than three-star hotel, one express hotel, one barber shop and one beauty shop were selected from 13 counties (districts) of Hangzhou City in 2021, and 3% to 5% of all cleaned and disinfected towels that planned to be used were randomly sampled. The type of public places and towels cleaning and disinfection were collected using the basic investigation form provided in the Public Place Health Risk Factors Surveillance Program (2021 version), and the pH value of towels was measured according to the national criteria Textiles-determination of pH of aqueous extract (GB/T 7573-2009). According to the national criteria of Hygienic indicators and limits for public places (GB 37488-2019), a pH value of 6.5 to 8.5 was defined qualified, and the rates of qualified pH values was estimated for towels sampled from different places and with different cleaning and disinfection types.@*Results@#Totally 64 public places were investigated, and 807 towels were measured for pH values, with a median pH value of 7.3 (interquartile range, 0.7). A total of 655 towels had qualified pH values (81.16%). The rates of qualified pH values were 84.95%, 75.56%, 73.21%, 85.61% and 88.81% for towels sampled from the three- and higher-star hotel, less than three-star hotel, express hotel, barber shop and beauty shop, respectively (χ2=19.307, P=0.001). The rate of qualified pH values for self-cleaned and -disinfected towels was significantly higher than for towels with outsourcing cleaning and disinfection services (88.28% vs. 77.18%; χ2=14.973, P<0.001). The rate of qualified pH values was 83.82% for towels with outsourcing cleaning and disinfection services sampled from the three- and higher-star hotel, and was both 100.00% for self-cleaned and -disinfected towels sampled from the less than three-star hotel and beauty shop.@*Conclusion@#The cleaning quality of towels remains to be improved in public places in Hangzhou City, and health supervisions on towels are recommended to be improved in public places.