Bacterial counts on fabrics: a comparative study of three methods.

One contact plate and two homogenization methods have been compared for efficiency in assessing the bacterial contamination of fabrics with high or low, natural or artificial contamination. The contact plate method resulted in considerably lower counts than any of the homogenization methods, which closely resembled one another. One of these, utilizing a Stomacher 400, was found to be more practical, and is therefore recommended for counting bacteria on fabrics.