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A German study has sequenced the microbes on used kitchen sponges, finding the average sponge harbours more than 300 species of bacteria in concentrations as high as human faeces.
On the plus side, there were no really horrible nasties, but cleaning cloths and sponges too regularly seems to encourage more of the bad, potentially harmful, bacteria to grow.
Microbiologist Markus Egert of Furtwangen University was one of the sponge-biome researchers.
"Our study stresses and visualizes the role of kitchen sponges as microbiological hot spots in the built environment, with the capability to collect and spread bacteria with a probable pathogenic potential." The researchers in Nature
