I would like to know the least amount of chlorine bleach (regular strength Chlorox) needed to kill germs when I do laundry. Bleach is very hard on clothing, and I usually end up running each load twice - first with bleach, and again to remove as much bleach as possible. I know the amount to use would vary according to water volume, so what’s the least amount of bleach needed per gallon to kill germs?
Well I’ll admit that I’ve never considered my washing machine to be a method of preventing the spread of germs but the CDC indicates that
The article in question details the use of bleaching agents in relation to preventing HIV spread, but mainly on countertops.
And from this page (also from Clorox): bolding mine
To handwash, **disinfect ** or pre-treat stains and clean heavy soils, rinse to remove loose soil and fully soak each garment for 5 minutes in a solution of 1/4 cup of Ultra Clorox® Bleach to 1 gallon of cool water.
Bleach is overkill. The detergent itself should be sufficient to kill any germs lingering on your clothing. What kind of nasty-ass laundry do you have, anyway? 
If you’re truly concerned about infection, consider using an autoclave.
Bleach may be hard on clothing, but I’m guessing that the agitator in the washing machine is just as hard on it. So you may be doing more harm than good by doing the second wash.
Also, the wash is hard on the bleach. It is the bleach that loses the battle to your clothes. After one wash, I doubt you could find any bleach left anywhere.
violet9 Stop watching infomercials. Clorex® is only using scare tactics to sell more bleach.
If the germs in your clothing were going to make you sick, you would already BE sick! The organisms we live with every day actually help our immune systems to cope with infectious ones.
That’s not to say cleaning carefully after handling meat products, for example, isn’t important, it is.
But, bleach in the laundry isn’t important, unless your whites are dingy. 
Terminus: Considering your supremely confident ignorance, I’m betting your laundry requires a hazmat rating.
http://www.oprah.com/foodhome/home/repair/home_20040413_clean.jhtml;jsessionid=VXQNNIRMHSSBBLARAYIR3KQ (BTW, I’m not citing Oprah here, I’m citing Dr. Philip Tierno, director of New York University’s microbiology department.)
Picunurse: I do not watch infomercials, and I am not germ phobic.
I’m amazed at the snide & high-handed comments regarding a simple straightforward question. You all have certainly made a lot of baseless, self-satisfied assumptions.
I used to extract DNA for a living. In order to extract the DNA, we had to break open the cells that contained it. Guess what substance we used - that’s right, detergent. Bacteria are a bit tougher because they have a cell wall that can protect them from the detergent, but they can be weakened through enzymatic action. These same enzymes are also added to your laundry detergent. I challenge you to produce bacteria that can remain infectious after having been broken open and its entire contents dispersed through ten gallons liquid.
You should question your own baseless and self-satisfied assumptions.
So I’m looking over the list of thread titles, and I inevitably read this one as:
Question re chlorine bleach as spermacide
[QUOTE=Terminus Est]
I used to extract DNA for a living. In order to extract the DNA, we had to break open the cells that contained it. Guess what substance we used - that’s right, detergent. Bacteria are a bit tougher because they have a cell wall that can protect them from the detergent, but they can be weakened through enzymatic action. These same enzymes are also added to your laundry detergent. I challenge you to produce bacteria that can remain infectious after having been broken open and its entire contents dispersed through ten gallons liquid.
Odds are also pretty good that you’re getting very little, if any, germicidal action if you’re washing the clothes in hot or very warm water (for example, when washing whites). According to the local health department (which issues food handler’s cards), chlorine evaporates very quickly in hot water. So for the purpose of making a solution for sanitizing restaurant surfaces and equipment, we’re supposed to use “cool” water.
The health department also advises against adding soap to the sanitizing solution, because the soap degrades the germicidal characteristics of the bleach. So again, when doing laundry…
The health department says to use (if I remember correctly) 2 teaspoons of bleach for each gallon of water. It may be only one teaspoon.
And as to how chlorine bleach kills germs, my guess has always been that the corrosive quality of bleach destroys the bacteria’s outer shell.
Well, I bet it would work… 
Just my observations but I noticed when I do a load of clothes and forget about them for a day especially in the summer, that musty moldy smell can gag a maggot; then you have to wash them all aver again. As a preemptive strike I always add a splash of Clorox just to be safe, Two days later and still no smell. It’s that damned last load that gets me every time, out of sight out of mind I guess.
You should question your own baseless and self-satisfied assumptions.
[/QUOTE]
And those would be what exactly?
From Pharmacology in Nursing by Hahn, Barkin, and Oestreich:
Hypochlorous acid is a rapidly acting bactericidal agent. Its effect is partly the result of its oxidizing action and partly of its effect on microbial enzymes that are concerned with the metabolism of glucose.