Top Five Germ Hot Spots

The Kitchen Sponge If you use a kitchen sponge to wipe away your eating areas, be aware it’s estimated there can be as many as 250,000 bacteria per square inch on it. Wiping counters or dishes with a dirty sponge can transfer the bacteria, E. coli, from one item to another. Use only pure cellulose sponges. Keep them either by boiling in water for three minutes, or by wetting and squeezing and then cooking in the microwave for two minutes. Another option is to run them through the dishwasher.

Dish Rags They have the same problem as sponges but the texture makes them slightly safer. To keep clean, rinse the rag well and allow to dry for several hours before using again. Most bacteria can only live for three hours without moisture.

The Kitchen Sink Well, you can’t do without one but salmonella, campylobacter, and E. coli are probably lurking in your drain. From there, migration to the basin and faucet handles is possible. Scrub the drain area as far down as you can with baking soda and a toothbrush. And always clean the sink after you have prepared food that may contain dangerous organisms.

Wet Laundry A report from ABC News states that there is about 0.1 gram of fecal material in a piece of underwear, which adds up to approximately 100 million E. coli bacteria in an average undergarment load. What to do? Wash all undergarments in the same load, and make it the last load of the day to avoid contaminating successive loads. You can also add a few drops of disinfecting tea tree oil in your laundry detergent. And don’t allow laundry to sit between wash and dry cycles since it gives germs a chance to multiply.