Ok, since this post is resurrected and I am a nurse and also a clean freak, I'll weigh in here. Yes, the CDC recommends just soap and water. Actually, soap and water OR hand sanitizer is what we use in the hospital to kill germs on our hands. FYI, The only thing that doesn't get killed with sanitizer on your hands, according to our continuing education on infection control is C-Diff. Guess what you use for that one? Good ole soap and water. Yup, soap and water is even better than sanitizer in some cases! As for surfaces in the hospital, its bleach or cavi-wipes (not sure what's in those, some chemical you can't buy at home, I think. Bleach is the only thing to use on C-diff, once again, but bleach will kill everything else you run into in a hospital. That being said, if you or a family member is immuno- compromised then take extra measures at home or if you are like me and work in a hospital, it doesn't hurt to be extra cautious. When I wash clothes, I am both protecting myself from patients and also protecting them from anything floating around my house, so it warrants the most stringent measures I know of. I take extra measures I wash my uniforms separately in HOT water, even though they are dark blue. Yes they do fade and wear out faster, but that's the trade off I will take. Think of that next time your nurse has a faded uniform. Also, my new washer has a sanitize feature that steams the clothes. I plan on using that with my uniforms and anything my pets (or family) may have an accident on. I just would not feel comfortable relying on vinegar, or peroxide or even store bought sanitizer, in those cases, especially when the hospital is using bleach. As for the original OP's question, my son is grown but I never put him into any dress clothes I couldn't wash in hot water until he was old enough to be fully potty trained and then some. After that, well, he didn't get sick much and I'm known, even now, for throwing any clothing out that I can't soak the poop, blood or vomit out of and then follow with a wash in super hot water in the washer. The rare fragile fabric that you mentioned that gets stained, yea, if I can't sanitize it in hot water after an accident, I throw out. I think I got over putting my son in expensive baby clothes really quick. One word...onesies, lots of them. Cheap, comfy, cute and disposable, if need be. :)) Also, peroxide does do a fantastic job of getting blood out of clothes, but I never use it as a sanitizer in clothes. It would have to be something like a gallon of peroxide in the wash to be any kind of germ killer. I do pour it directly on blood spots alternating it with some sort of spot lifter like Oxy Max and luke warm water (body temp) . I've been doing this for years, even on lacy fragile fabrics ( if ya know what I mean, ladies) and that combo is what usually works, Try to treat blood as soon as you can. The longer it sits, the more it sets in. Oxy Max will eventually eat up your fabrics too, by the way.

When I have to take our king-sized comforter to the laundromat, I run one of the big machines empty on hot with a double-dose of detergent (Charlie's) and a bunch of Lysol disinfectant (the small brown bottle, *not* the soapy cleaners) before I wash anything. That should clean out a lot of the bugs and goo and who knows what else!

Kebc I just posted a topic in the forum about the use of chlorine bleach and THEN I saw this post. I was not trying to create another post about bleach...I'm sorry. To answer your question. I don't use chlorine bleach but will use oxygen bleach on light colored or white items. My machine drains into the laundry sink and no matter what temperature there is color transfer from the colored items especially cotton, into the water; for that reason I never put colored and white items together and will only wash items of like colors or families(dark blue, black) together. I Keep everything else separated. I don't have dingy whites and wash them on 120F or 140F. I don't seem to have any smelly dish rags..not sure why that is. My towels are all dark colors, dark blue, dark green, or eggplant. The washing instructions for these says to wash them on cold and avoid fabric softener which I do. Everything in this load comes out with any mold smell from wash cloths or towells(in the summer I change wash cloths frequently) so I am not sure you need hot water or bleach to deal with the smell.

Sabrown72... I understand you've done this practice (not sorting) your whole life but with your brand new high efficiency machine there is a learning curve. If you had a traditional top loader before you could get away with mixing as there was a ton of water to help suspend color transfer (plus your old washer never got as hot as the Sanitary cycle reaching over 150F). With so little water in "he" machines you're concentrating color dye as well as soils (dirt and body oils). Be sure to use a detergent for what you're washing. There are detergents geared for whites and detergents geared for colors and they really do help keep whites white and colors bright with less fading but you need to separate the two loads at minimum between colors and whites. Whites can withstand hot hot washes where colors will benefit with warm. I don't recommend cold/cool (unless your cleaning a blood stain or protein based stain), as cold/cool doesn't loosen body oils trapped in clothes fibers. For me the learning cure was dosing detergents and bleach with my Electrolux. I have soft water and only need 2 Tablespoons (3 for huge load) of detergent. There should be no suds visible, just bubbles. Only a 1/4 to 3/4 cup of bleach is needed. If you don't use liquid bleach you can substitute with an "Oxi" type bleach (only use on whites). I love my Electrolux and hope you enjoy it too.