Five children died during an outbreak of a flesh-eating fungal infection likely spread by bed linens, towels or gowns at Children’s Hospital between August 2008 and July 2009.

Questions about controlling the spread of such infections have taken on a greater urgency, according to an article on the New York Times website, because deadly fungal infections, while still rare, appear to be on the rise nationwide.

The New Orleans outbreak may have spread unchecked, at least in part, because of lapses in the hospital’s infection controls and sloppy handling of contaminated linens, according to a review of emails, patient records, legal testimony from hospital and laundry staff, and interviews with doctors, lawyers, federal health officials, hospital administrators and patients’ families, the article said.

Workers unloaded clean linens on the same dock where medical waste was removed, moved clean and soiled linens on the same carts, and stored linens in hospital hallways covered in dust from a nearby construction site, court records indicated.

In the rare instances when linens have been associated with transmitting illnesses, the problem is usually caused by improper transportation or storage, Lisa Waldowski, an infection control specialist with the Joint Commission, said in the article.

Hospitals typically do not sterilize linens, except those used in operating rooms. Hospital bedsheets and towels typically are washed and bleached to reach the same standard of cleanliness as hotel laundry. One key difference is that medical linens are supposed to be wrapped in bags or cellophane for transport.

Read the article.