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Researcher from Furtwangen University Launches New Extreme Sports Project for Water Protection dateFormat['de_DE'])+ ' - '+item['institution']+' Weitere Pressemitteilungen dieser Einrichtung Metrics details The built environment (BE) and in particular kitchen environments harbor a remarkable microbial diversity We analyzed the bacterial microbiome of used kitchen sponges by 454–pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes and fluorescence in situ hybridization coupled with confocal laser scanning microscopy (FISH–CLSM) Pyrosequencing showed a relative dominance of Gammaproteobacteria within the sponge microbiota Five of the ten most abundant OTUs were closely related to risk group 2 (RG2) species previously detected in the BE and kitchen microbiome significantly affected the microbiome structure closely related to the RG2-species Chryseobacterium hominis and Moraxella osloensis showed significantly greater proportions in regularly sanitized sponges thereby questioning such sanitation methods in a long term perspective FISH–CLSM showed an ubiquitous distribution of bacteria within the sponge tissue concentrating in internal cavities and on sponge surfaces Image analysis showed local densities of up to 5.4 * 1010 cells per cm3 and confirmed the dominance of Gammaproteobacteria Our study stresses and visualizes the role of kitchen sponges as microbiological hot spots in the BE with the capability to collect and spread bacteria with a probable pathogenic potential due to their porous nature (evident under the binocular; (B)) and water-soaking capacity represent ideal incubators for microorganisms (C) Pie charts showing the taxonomic composition of the bacterial kitchen sponge microbiome as delivered by pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene libraries of 28 sponge samples (top and bottom samples of 14 sponges only the 20 most abundant orders and families are listed we aimed to estimate the pathogenic potential of the sponge microbiota we explored the spatial distribution pattern of bacteria in the kitchen sponge tissue by 3D–microscopy using fluorescence in situ hybridization in combination with confocal laser–scanning microscopy (FISH–CLSM) to complement and validate the sequencing data and to assess in situ abundance of bacteria Our work closes a gap in the knowledge of the BE microbiome and provides new and important information for an effective domestic hygiene awareness Although new kitchen sponges are probably not sterile the data presented below obviously result from a bacterial colonization that largely took place during the use of the sponges Numbers at the nodes indicate percentage values of 1000 bootstrap re–samplings (only percentages ≥ 50 are shown) Scale bar represents substitution rate per nucleotide position Only seven OTUs were affiliated with Enterobacteriaceae and had a cumulative relative abundance of 1.18% Manual BLAST analysis of these OTUs yielded the genera Enterobacter Only single OTUs affiliated with Staphylococcus and Streptococcus were found (0.037% and 0.017% relative abundance most closely related to the RG1 species Staphylococcus succinus and Streptococcus thermophilus Further potentially pathogenic taxa previously isolated from kitchen sponges OTU abundance (total number of reads) is indicated by node size Node color indicates taxonomic affiliation at phylum/class level: yellow – Actinobacteria Node label indicates the best possible taxonomic identification of the OTUs: Aj – Acinetobacter johnsonii No further factor affected the beta–diversity of the sponge microbiota (ADONIS Pseudomonas cremoricolorata was the only non-pathogenic bacterium which seemed able to significantly “antagonize” a RG2-related species (Chyseobacterium hominis); however it was positively correlated with another one (Acinetobacter pittii) the two most abundant RG2-related species (Acinetobacter johnsonii and Moraxella osloensis) appeared independent from the other bacterial species which might be one explanation for their success in massively colonizing the sponges FISH-CLSM analysis of bacteria in sponge sample 9b. Maximum projections of confocal stacks, showing EUB338MIX–stained bacteria in red (A and E) and sponge autofluorescence in cyan (B and F); (C and G) are the overlap of (A, B and E, F), respectively. (D and H) are the three–dimensional models of (C and G), respectively, where bacteria are converted into size–adjusted spheres and the sponge tissue into semi–transparent iso–surfaces. Scale bars: (A–D) 10 µm, (E–H) 20 µm. (A) Bacterial abundance in selected regularly sanitized (“specially cleaned”) and not sanitized kitchen sponges Abundance was assessed as number of EUB338MIX-stained cells per microscopy image (N = 14) (B) Statistical count of Gam42a–stained cells in selected sponge samples (N = 6–8 microscopy images) as compared to the expected fraction of Gammaproteobacteria detected by pyrosequencing analysis of the same samples we decided to exclude singletons to avoid inflation of the diversity indices although a few members of the rare microbiota might have been excluded from the analysis by doing so Enterobacteriaceae were of low relative abundance (1.18%) and were only partly related to genera including pathogenic species We also screened all excluded singletons and detected only 53 singleton OTUs additionally affiliated with Enterobacteriaceae representing an additional 0.18% of relative abundance of the non-rarified dataset Also other typical enteropathogenic genera were not detected here Averaging these two values (3.9 * 108) and assuming the same amount of Enterobacteriaceae in our sponge samples then a relative abundance of 0.975% should be expected in our samples for the observed bacterial abundance (~4 * 1010); our pyrosequencing–detected relative abundance of Enterobacteriaceae was about 1.18% a bacterial abundance of 4 * 1010 was not an average value per sponge but represented heavily contaminated local sponge sites considering a lower average abundance of bacteria in the sponges the fraction of Enterobacteriaceae would be expected to be even greater than 0.975% thus getting even closer to the observed value of 1.18% warrants attention and underlines the need for appropriate hygiene measures particularly in BE environments with many immunocompromised persons schools and houses of home–handled patients incubate and spread bacteria from and back onto kitchen surfaces from where they might eventually find their way into the human body direct contact of a sponge with food and/or the human hands might transfer bacteria in and onto the human body depending on their pathogenic potential and the environmental conditions The abundant occurrence of this bacterium might be responsible for bad smelling kitchen sponges As “special cleaning” measures even increased the relative abundance of Moraxella cleaned sponges might paradoxically smell more often and might promote the establishment of higher shares of RG2-related species in the kitchen sponges including controlled sanitation experiments our data allow careful speculation that a prolonged application of sanitation measures of kitchen sponges is not advisable Analysis of co–occurrence patterns are useful to identify recurrent associations of relevant organisms We aimed to find out whether non–pathogenic bacteria could act as inhibitors of RG2-related species associations of RG2-related OTUs were found more often which suggests a synergy between these species Whether this has any consequences in terms of clinical relevance remains to be demonstrated Our work demonstrated that kitchen sponges harbor a higher bacterial diversity than previously thought and that obligate human pathogens might represent just a minority of their microbiome sponge sanitation methods appear not sufficient to effectively reduce the bacterial load in kitchen sponges and might even increase the shares of RG2-related bacteria We therefore rather suggest a regular (and easily affordable) replacement of kitchen sponges In order to verify and complement our study and to better understand the hygienic relevance of the kitchen sponge microbiome future studies should focus in more detail on i) a differentiation of active and less active (or dead) fractions of the microbiome ii) the actual pathogenicity of the kitchen sponge microbiome by using a metagenomic or metatranscriptomic approach iii) the quantitative and qualitative effect of sponge sanitation measures using a controlled experimental setup iv) the temporal development of the sponge microbiome v) correlations of the sponge microbiome with the microbiome of the cleaned environments and of the sponge users Sponges and usage information were provided voluntarily No personal data of the human sponge users were recorded rendering it impossible to assign a specific sponge microbiota to a specific user afterwards the sponge users neither provided any directly health-related personal data nor were the analyses aimed at the detection of directly health-related bacteria We therefore believe that the study was performed in an ethically appropriate manner DNA was extracted from all 28 kitchen sponge samples (ca each) using the FastDNA Spin Kit for Soil according to the manufacturer’s instructions (MP Biomedicals A negative extraction without sponge tissue was performed to verify the absence of 16S rRNA genes from the extraction kit singletons as well as plastidic and mitochondrial OTUs were also removed The dataset was normalized to 357 sequences per sample and this rarified dataset was used to assess alpha- and beta-diversity and to identify the OTUs significantly affected by the investigated factors The list of specific commands used for each QIIME step is available upon request One-thousand bootstrap re–samplings were used to statistically evaluate the tree topology USA) were used to assemble and label the final figures For the quantitative assessment of the relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria (the dominant bacterial class according to pyrosequencing), four sponge samples with different metadata were selected: 1 b and 9 b (not regularly sanitized sponges), 3 b and 10 b (regularly sanitized sponges; Supplementary Table S1) six to eight images per sponge sample were taken with an epifluorescence microscope Zeiss Axioplan 2 (Carl Zeiss Jena GmbH using the Zeiss filter F36-720 HC-mFISH Sp Cells were counted at the computer and the relative fraction of Gammaproteobacteria was calculated as the average percentage of Gam42a–stained cells referred to all EUB338MIX–stained cells This value was then compared to the expected relative fraction of Gammaproteobacteria obtained from the pyrosequencing data Comparative bacterial abundance between regularly sanitized (“specially cleaned”) and not regularly sanitized sponges was assessed as the average of EUB338MIX–stained cells per image (N = 14) In order to address the microbiome of unused kitchen sponges 7 new sponges were purchased in local stores in Villingen-Schwenningen and Giessen in early 2017 DNA extraction and 16S rRNA gene PCR (with 5 sponges 5 top and 5 bottom samples) and FISH using the universal bacterial probe (with 2 sponges combined top-bottom samples stemming from 2 new sponges were vortexed at maximum speed for one minute in 20 ml of sterile NaCl solution (0.9%) 100 µL of this solution were subsequently spread on a rich solid medium (CASO Agar which were incubated for 5 d at 28 °C and 37 °C Microbial communities associated with house dust Download references Julia Kuhrau and Severin Weis (Furtwangen) as well as Katrin Hörmann (München) for technical assistance We are also grateful to Stefanie Reissmann (Marburg) for allowing MC to use the confocal microscope at the Max Plank Institute of Terrestrial Microbiology This work was funded by a starting grant from the Institute of Applied Research (IAF) of Furtwangen University to ME Massimiliano Cardinale & Sylvia Schnell Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health The authors declare that they have no competing interests Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-06055-9 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science „Very little was known about this until now," explains the head of the study a lecturer in microbiology and hygiene at Furtwangen University The focus was on the microscope eyepieces because of the intense contact with users' hands and eyes The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Clinical Medicine Cleaning with isopropanol [...] should be carried out regularly particularly if different people use the same microscope the oculars of ten microscopes from a university laboratory were tested immediately after a practical class Bacteria and fungi from all left eyepieces and eye cups were cultivated on various culture media while all right eyepieces and eye cups underwent comprehensive molecular biological analysis The tests were carried out before and after they were cleaned with 70% isopropanol for 30 seconds "We were able to obtain excellent values from up to 1700 living bacteria per cm2 above all from typical skin bacteria such as cutibacteria and staphylococci but also from environment and water bacteria such as paracocci We did not find any fungi," said Prof The molecular biological tests generally confirmed these findings; in total 262 different types of bacteria were identified on the oculars tested cutibacterium acnes and brevibacterium casei four potentially pathogenic bacteria were isolated from the eyepieces These can cause eye conditions such as keratitis or inflamation of the eyelid in sensitive people "So microscope oculars definitely have the potential to act as carriers of infectious pathogens The good news: cleaning with isopropanol reduces the number of germs significantly by 99% particularly if different people use the same microscope," concludes Prof and nose ointment after hospital discharge reduced infections and infection-associated hospitalizations due to MRSA in high-risk patients Professor Peter Guggenbichler is only too aware of infection prevention and control issues in hospitals from the Children’s Hospital at Erlangen University… The European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) has been joined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to launch the 7th annual ‘International Day for Fighting… This website uses cookies to give our readers the best website experience. Please refer to our privacy policy to find out how we use cookies and how you can edit your preferences What: German professor Andreas Fath begins attempt to swim the Tennessee River Where: Ijams Nature Center's River Landing (a short walk from Ijams' Visitor Center) Andreas Fath hopes his swim down the Tennessee River goes a little better than one he took down the Rhine River in Germany in 2014 “I was almost dead when I finished,” said Fath a professor at Furtwangen University in Germany I won’t have to deal with all of that.” Fath studies water pollution: phosphorus nitrates and other chemicals and substances that are damaging water supplies around the world He got the idea that doing these long swims can get the word out “Only scientists read scientific papers,” said Fath from Furtwangen in a phone conversation with USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee “It is better to reach the public by doing something that gets their attention You come close to the river and you speak to the people there.” Fath finished all 766 miles of the Rhine is 28 days Although the Tennessee has fewer miles at 652 it has other issues that have him thinking swimming it will take 30 to 35 days “The Tennessee has nine dams and nine lakes,” he said “There will be no current on those lakes and that should be hard said he is confident he can complete the swim he’ll start on July 27 from Ijams Nature Center near Forks of the River the Tennessee’s source where the Holston and French Broad rivers come together he’ll finish a little more than a month later at the river’s mouth in Paducah Sign Up: Get breaking news emails He’ll swim about eight hours a day and hopes to cover 20 or more miles each day “One thing many people don’t understand is that when you’re in water you don’t have to carry your own weight,” Fath said you let the water carry you and it’s not as hard as you might think.” It won’t be his first time swimming the Tennessee a geology professor at University of South he competed in the 2016 Swim the Suck race a 10-mile open-water swim in the Tennessee River Gorge near Chattanooga He enjoyed that experience and hopes to have some company on parts of his Tennessee River swim His wife may join him for some parts and other swimmers also are expected to participate for short distances Knoll will be accompanying him in a pontoon boat “The purpose of this is to raise awareness of water quality issues,” Knoll said “The swim will get people interested and then hopefully they will look into the science.” he will be involved in the various sample collections “It will be interesting to compare what we find in an American river to what there was in a European river,” he said “We can look at how wastewater is treated what people consume and what technology is used to protect the water people drink We’ll also want to know if that technology is good enough to protect the water.” Knoll said some of the tests will yield results on the spot while others will take shipment to labs and several weeks before results are received Tennessee Valley Authority is among a list of sponsors of Fath’s swim and the authority is eagerly awaiting the results of the research “I look forward to coming to Tennessee again,” Fath said “It is a nice place with beautiful scenery I am in good shape and I’m thinking positive that I can make it to the end.” Researcher from Furtwangen University Swims the 1083 Kilometre-Long Elbe River Metrics details Regularly touched surfaces are usually contaminated with microorganisms and might be considered as fomites but only little is known about their microbial colonization Previous cultivation-based analyses from our group revealed a bacterial load strongly dominated by staphylococci To better account for aerotolerant anaerobes slow growing and yet-uncultivated bacteria we performed an optimized 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach targeting the V1-V3 region 30 spectacles were swab-sampled at three sites We detected 5232 OTUs affiliated with 19 bacterial phyla and 665 genera Firmicutes (7%) and Bacteroidetes (5%) were relatively most abundant 13 genera accounted for 84% of the total sequences of all spectacles having a prevalence of more than 1% relative abundance bacterial diversity on the glasses was significantly higher compared to nosepads and earclips Our study represents the first cultivation-independent study of the bacteriota of worn spectacles Dominated by bacteria of mostly human skin and epithelia origin and clearly including potential pathogens spectacles are remarkably widespread in population Due to their exposed position in the center of the human face spectacles are thought to be contaminated with a diverse microbiota It is well known that surfaces with regular contact to the human body become easily contaminated with microorganisms and consequently can be considered as fomites but only little is known about their microbial load and the hygienic relevance resulting from it These spectacles were highly contaminated with Staphylococcus epidermidis and it has been suggested that this contamination might represent a risk to patients during operations surgeons were advised to disinfect their spectacles on a regular basis This may be particularly problematic in clinical environments and for infection-susceptible groups of persons such as immunocompromised or elderly people We provided a first description of aerobic bacteria on spectacles but many other groups remained elusive as only (aerobic) cultivation-based methods were used slow growing and yet-uncultivated bacteria were probably discriminated against with this approach we examined the bacteriota composition of 30 spectacles at 3 different sample sites (earclips nosepads and lenses) using Illumina MiSeq-based 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing All investigated spectacles were obtained from university staff or students this is the first molecular study on the bacteriota of spectacles so far cultivation-independent basis for a deeper understanding of the hygienic relevance of these very widespread items that aid human vision Comparison of alpha diversity measures between the three sample sites (earclips Differences are shown by four indices (observed taxonomic units All differences were found statistically significant (p < 0.05) PCoA plots of weighted and unweighted UniFrac distances assigned on OTU level to the different sample sites (earclips ANOSIM (Analysis of Similarities) on UniFrac distances revealed significant differences in beta diversity between the sample sites (unweighted UniFrac: R = 0.316 By comparing the different sites with each other ANOSIM on UniFrac distances using Holm-corrected p-values revealed a statistical difference between all the tested sites (adjusted p < 0.05) we identified the bacteriota on different parts of worn spectacles We found statistically significant differences within the alpha and beta diversity indices between the three sample sites (nosepads it is safe to assume that the sampled site plays a significant role for bacterial community composition In particular the glasses tended to differ from the other sample sites as they carried the most diverse bacterial community but only between younger (about 30 a old) and older (about 70 a old) subjects the SILVA database 128 release returned Propionibacterium while searching against the NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) and eHOMD (Human Oral Microbiome Database) 16S databases revealed the respective sequences to be affiliated with Cutibacterium the respective data are presented as Propionibacterium here further investigations should nevertheless examine spectacles as potential carriers of antibiotic resistant bacteria in more detail This issue could be of high hygienic relevance clevelandensis to be rather common on oily skin sites it also occurs on spectacles in rather high shares They may be harmless to healthy people but may cause infections in newborns Spectacles - widely used devices that aid human vision - carry a significant and highly diverse bacterial load cultivation-independent insights into this spectacle bacteriota which is mainly comprised of bacteria of human skin and epithelia origin The community was dominated by bacteria typical for the skin areas that are in physical contact with the spectacle frames The bacteriota on the lenses differed significantly from the other sample sites and showed the highest diversity As many of the identified genera comprise potentially pathogenic species that may cause skin and eye diseases spectacles clearly must be regarded as fomites This is of particular importance in clinical environments but also for people daily working with worn spectacles the protocols and data published here might serve as a basis to study the surfaces of other devices with close contact to human eyes and facial skin in order to gain a deeper understanding of their hygienic relevance the bacterial taxa identified here as being prominent on spectacles might serve as practically very relevant organisms for the testing of antimicrobial coatings and/or cleaning strategies for spectacles no human samples but swab samples obtained from worn spectacles were investigated All swab samples were collected at Furtwangen University Spectacles and usage data of the spectacle wearers were provided voluntarily Informed consent to use the obtained data for scientific purposes was obtained orally Personal data of the participants were not recorded rendering it impossible to assign a spectacle microbiota to a specific wearer the spectacle wearers neither provided directly health-related data nor were the analyses aimed at detecting directly health-related bacteria we believe that the study was performed in an ethically appropriate manner Spectacles for swab-sampling were kindly provided by 30 students and employees (mean age 24 ± 6.6 years, (mean ± SD), 12 males and 18 females) of Furtwangen University, Campus Villingen-Schwenningen. All collected metadata, such as age, gender or frame material are included in supplementary file 1 Standardized sampling was performed from October to December 2018 in a university laboratory Each spectacle was sampled in a meandering pattern One swab sample was obtained per sampled site using dry sterile Puritan Hydra Flock Swabs (Puritan Diagnostics LLC Swabs were broken off into sterile 1.5 ml microfuge tubes DNA was extracted and purified from the swab heads using the PureLink Microbiome DNA Purification Kit (Life Technologies GmbH Germany) with slight modifications to the manufacturer’s ‘buccal Samples were incubated at 75 °C for 10 min at 850 rpm followed by five rounds of bead beating in a FastPrep 24 instrument (MP Biomedicals LCC USA) for 1 min at 6.5 m/s and then placed on ice for 1 min After 2 min of incubation at room temperature the DNA was eluted with 40 µl of elution buffer The flow through was reloaded onto the same filter additional 10 µl of elution buffer was added onto the same filter The purified DNA was stored at −20 °C until further analyses that this region provides an accurate insight into the human skin and nasopharyngeal microbiota which we expected to dominate on spectacles All extracted samples were amplified in duplicates PCR setup and cycling conditions for the primary amplification were as follows: 3 µl of template DNA 15.05 µl of nuclease and DNA free water (VWR International 5 µl of 5 × KAPA High Fidelity Buffer (KAPA Biosystems 0.25 µl of 20 mg/ml BSA (Life Technologies GmbH) 0.5 µl of KAPA High Fidelity Hot Start Polymerase 0.3 µl of forward (10 µM) and 0.3 µl of reverse primer (10 µM) The PCR profile was as follows: 98 °C initial denaturation for 3 min PCR products were verified by standard 0.8% agarose gel electrophoresis using Midori Green as DNA-dye (Biozym water template control reactions were included unused swabs were prepared as described above No PCR background contamination from either reagents and/or collection procedures was discovered we used diluted (1:1000) DNA from overnight cultures of Escherichia coli K12 extracted with the same DNA purification kit a second amplification step was carried out to anneal dual-index barcodes The Illumina Nextera XT Index Kit v3 and Nextera XT Index Kit v2 Set B adapters (Illumina Inc. USA) with different dual indices were combined to allow multiplexing and good performance of all samples Two unique indices were attached to each amplicon sample We used 5 µl of cleaned amplicon PCR product with 4 µl index primer i7xxx and 4 µl index primer i5xxx 10 µl of 5 × KAPA High Fidelity Buffer (KAPA Biosystems) 1.2 µl of dNTP Mix (10 mM) and 0.2 µl of KAPA High Fidelity Hot Start DNA Polymerase were added Cycling started at 98 °C initial denaturation for 3 min 72 °C for 30 s and a final extension at 72 °C for 5 min Index PCR products were verified by standard 0.8% agarose gel electrophoresis and cleaned up as described above Post PCR quality checks on a Bioanalyzer 2100 Instrument with the DNA High Sensitivity Kit (both Agilent Technologies Deutschland GmbH Germany) revealed the exact amplicon size (bp) of each sample After quantification using a Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer (Life Technologies GmbH) The library was adjusted to 3 nM (with 10 mM Tris buffer combined with 30% PhiX control (Illumina Inc.) and finally diluted to 5 pM The sequencing was run on an Illumina MiSeq platform using the MiSeq Reagent Kit v3 (600 cycle) (Illumina Inc.) with a quality score ≥30 and default settings Sequence files were deposited at the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) under the accession number PRJEB32211 Chloroplast and mitochondrial OTUs were removed We only kept taxa with a prevalence of more than one The 85 samples were rarefied to a level of 21416 sequences for even sampling depth (seed: 1121983) respectively Holm-adjusted p-values below 0.05 were regarded as statistically significant Butt, U. et al. 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Austral Ecol. 18, 117–143, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1993.tb00438.x (1993) Dynamic documents with R and knitr (CRC Press Download references sequenced the samples and analyzed the data collected the spectacle samples and prepared sequencing assisted with sequencing and data analyses performed project administration and supervised the work All authors edited and approved the final manuscript The authors declare no competing interests The affiliation of one author (Si.W.) with Carl Zeiss Vision International GmbH did not play any additional role in the study design The specific roles of all authors are articulated in the ‘Author’ contributions’ section Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62186-6 Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Microbiology newsletter — what matters in microbiology research scientists have carefully analyzed all the critters in a kitchen sponge a study came out about bacteria in kitchen sponges that sent home chefs into a frenzy we realized much of the news coverage about it was incorrect The study, published in Scientific Reports undertook a thorough investigation into how many critters are living in used kitchen sponges "We found 362 different species of bacteria, and locally, the density of bacteria reached up to 45 billion per square centimeter," says Markus Egert a microbiologist at Furtwangen University in Germany Forty-five billion microbes per square centimeter? Are you kidding? If you scale that up, that's like stuffing all the people who live in Manhattan into the Rockefeller ice rink "There's hardly any habitat on Earth where you'll find similar densities of bacteria there can be spots on your kitchen sponge with just as high concentrations of bacteria as in a toilet That result in itself is pretty remarkable And it makes you think twice about using the sponge to wipe up your dining room table But that finding isn't what got people riled up it was a line in the study's abstract: Two species of bacteria "showed significantly greater proportions in regularly sanitized sponges [compared to uncleaned sponges] thereby questioning such sanitation methods in a long term perspective," the study says Then the media took this idea and ran with it "Your Kitchen Sponge Is Gross, and Cleaning It Isn't Helping," New York magazine's headline read "Cleaning a Dirty Sponge Only Helps Its Worst Bacteria, Study Says," The New York Times put it "Some people may think that microwaving a sponge kills its tiny residents but they are only partly right," the Times story continued smelliest and potentially pathogenic bacteria will survive." After reading these stories, including one posted on NPR's Facebook page This conclusion just didn't fit with my firsthand experience as a scientist I was a biochemistry postdoc slaving away in the lab I spent many of those days growing huge flasks of bacteria closely related to food-borne pathogens studied their guts — and killed them — day after day after day Anyone who has worked with food-borne pathogens — or their close relatives — knows that these little critters aren't "the strongest." They are weaklings You heat them up just a little bit and they literally pop "That's why we cook food. We know that heating will kill the pathogens," says Jennifer Quinlan a food microbiologist at Drexel University So what in the heck is going on with this new sponge study Are the findings upturning decades of public health recommendations The media reports were simply not accurate I read the study in great detail," she says "I feel now that the comments they make about not recommending washing in the abstract are really you can't draw any conclusions about the effect of washing sponges from this study there was no clear explanation of what "regular cleaning" meant "What really irked me is that you had to go all the way into the supplemental material to find how people reported washing the sponges," Quinlan says The study stated that the sponges were either microwaved or put in hot The latter can actually make the sponge stinkier soapy water as a way to disinfect a sponge," Quinlan says "That could actually encourage the bacteria." The study also looked at only five sponges that people said they "cleaned" regularly — and study participants did not say whether this cleaning took place in the microwave or in soapy water "We do not want to make public health recommendations based on five sponges from Germany," Quinlan says families should stick with the same recommendations Quinlan has given for years: "If you're dealing with raw juices from meat or poultry you should be using paper that can be disposed of," Quinlan says "I replace mine every one to two weeks," she says The USDA recommends putting it in the dishwasher with a heated dry cycle or wetting the sponge and popping it in the microwave for a minute Microwaving the sponge will knock down the bacteria living in it by about a million-fold, scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported back in 2009 this method will leave many still alive since there are billions in the sponge "It doesn't sterilize the sponge," she says the bacteria we want to kill are the ones that will make you sick." cleaning apparently boosted the levels of two species Egert has no idea exactly what these species are but one is related to bacteria that give your dirty laundry that stinky cause infections in people with suppressed immune systems Neither of these relatives are known to cause food poisoning Just five species of bacteria are responsible for more than 90 percent of hospitalizations due to food-borne illnesses And these bacteria are actually quite rare in sponges Egert and his team didn't find any of these food-borne-illness-causing bugs in their 14 sponges. And in a study published earlier this year, Quinlan and her colleagues detected pathogens in only about 1 to 2 percent of sponges collected from kitchens in Philadelphia. Even then, the amount of the pathogens present was very small, her team reported in the Journal of Food Protection "So when you microwave the sponge," she says "it will likely get rid of them all" — if they are even there in the first place And then you can rest easy that washing the dishes will not make you sick Become an NPR sponsor To experience everything that ESPN.com has to offer, we recommend that you upgrade to a newer version of your web browser. Click the upgrade button to the right or learn more Open Occitanie - Montpellier Complete Results » a group of 3rd year Computer Science students made a study visit to a partner university The trip was financed as a part of the project “COMPUTER SCIENCE - commissioned fields of study at the Maritime University of Szczecin” Przeglądarka Internet Explorer nie jest wspierana The Corsa overturned while the Aventador smashed into a guardrail The police said that the 32-year old female driver of the Opel as well as the driver of the Aventador and his passenger were all seriously injured and transported to a nearby hospital where their condition remains unknown Read more about Armin Trost Professor Armin Trost will be appearing at HR Tech Europe on March 24 and 25 in London What qualities will define talent as more jobs are consumed by computers and there is even more competition for fewer places Many jobs will be taken over by computers and droids While this happens new jobs and challenges 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infection Previous studies do suggest that contamination of slit lamp surfaces with typical skin bacteria all previous studies have relied on culturing microorganisms such studies always capture only a fraction of the microflora actually present since not all germs can be cultured on the typical culture media We therefore resorted to the state-of-the-art molecular biology methods that we have already implemented on similar surfaces such as eyeglasses and microscope eyepieces," explains Chief Investigator Professor Egert 91 swab samples from 46 slit lamps in two university eye clinics were analysed using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial genes Analysable data were provided by 82 samples which showed a total of 3369 different species of bacteria These were predominantly skin bacteria such as cutibacteria corynebacteria and the already frequently detected staphylococci Although the influence of certain parameters such as patient throughput at the device or length of cleaning interval was suspected no factors which would have a controlling influence on the diversity of bacteria identified could be discovered this may have been due to the strict hygiene measures in place during the current Corona pandemic "Many of the bacterial genera detected include species that have pathogenic potential which can lead to eye and skin diseases especially in those susceptible to infection Our study therefore underscores the importance of being vigilant for contamination and regularly disinfecting slit lamps," notes Egert The fact that the bacterial communities found on both the doctor's and the patient's sides of the lamps were often similar also suggests that bacteria can switch sides and that patients and doctors are equally at risk One important final finding: the dreaded antibiotic-resistant Stapylococcus areus bacteria (MRSA) could not be detected on any of the 46 lamps examined "This is very good news for patients and doctors alike," Egert concludes Future studies should target additional viruses are among the main triggers of infectious eye diseases Tucked away in Eimsbuettel, Gluck und Selig is a great breakfast destination but beat the crowds and head over in the morning instead Interiors resemble a country cottage in style with pretty white-washed and wooden furnishings and a vintage-esque glass display cupboard.They have a great selection of coffees Cafe, Tea Room, French, Tea , $ If you are sick of savory breakfasts and are craving a sweeter selection, look no further than Zuckermonarchie this is a spot specializing in sugary treats from pretty pastel macarons to a full afternoon tea The decor feels like a modern French tea room Beautiful soft colors contrast with contemporary clear Louis XIV-style plastic chairs feminine spot and perfect for a get-together or a tea-stop amid sightseeing Cafe, Restaurant, German, European, $$ Though the restaurant is decorated with vintage tastes, the flavors served up here are anything but dated. Gnosa is just a few steps from the Central Station and serves all-day brunches and delicious sweets to go along with a fabulous selection of teas They are famous throughout the city for their cakes with a massive choice of 25 in their roster There’s also an impressive torte buffet case to tempt you at any hour of the day Hungry? Then Café May is your place but this creates a lingering breakfast buzz that can continue well into the afternoon at the weekend There are locations dotted across the city Some even serve breakfast until 2 pm in the afternoon Bistro, German, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-free, $ Feeling more like indulging in petit déjeuner than Frühstück? Bistro Tati offers traditional French foods Its breakfast menu is only available at the weekend Customers rave about their crepes and galettes (thin pancakes originating in Normandy) complete with antique French-style furnishings and the occasional live band Sign up to our newsletter to save up to $800 on our unique trips See privacy policy Osterdeich Cafe, Coffee, $ A quaint little cafe, Osterdeich prides itself on its welcoming and friendly atmosphere It doesn’t hurt that the breakfast is also great with a selection of everything from fruit salad to croissants served with homemade marmalade beautifully decorated and favorite of local parties and events so be prepared to get cozy with the neighboring tables Restaurant, Vegan, German, European, $ A popular Sunday brunch spot, Pauline buzzes with a local and tourist crowd all eager to sample the homey decor and the homemade foods Breakfast platters include a cheese selection Bakery, Pastries, Dessert, $Lieblingsplatz means ‘favorite place’ and this could easily become your top breakfast spot in Hamburg perfectly suited to its Harbour City location The interiors are bold and contemporary and coffee is highly recommended Do as the locals do and pair it with a made-to-order omelet for the perfect start to the day What do Frank Sinatra and I have in common I love exploring and traveling to new places After completing my BA in History and International Relations at The College of New Jersey where I worked as the Student Life Assistant for an American study abroad program I moved to London to pursue my MSc in History of International Relations at the London School of Economics exploring London's museums and watching old films See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in October See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in Summer Guides & Tips The Best European Cities to Visit in November Guides & Tips The Best European Cities to Visit in December Art 10 Masterpieces You Can Only See in Munich See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in Autumn See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in July See & Do The Best Weekend Trips From Heidelberg See & Do Germany's Most Beautiful Abbeys and Monasteries Design The Most Beautiful Churches in Berlin See & Do The Best European Cities to Visit in September See & Do A Guide to River Cruises in Germany: What to Know US: +1 (678) 967 4965 | UK: +44 (0)1630 35000 tripssupport@theculturetrip.com © Copyright 2025 The Culture Trip Ltd "Can I keep using my kitchen sponges and cloths till they fall apart as long as I microwave them occasionally And is it better to sterilise them using the microwave or should I be putting them in the dishwasher?" We also reached out to microbiologist Markus Egert from Furtwangen University in Germany to share the results of his experiments around microwaving sponges.. Mel - Microwaving sponges would save a lot of them from being used and thrown away wouldn’t it Especially since plastic sponges take at least 500 years to decompose in landfill Alice - We decided to do a very simple experiment using Agar plates containing all the nutrients bacteria could ask for We took the in-use kitchen sponge and very quickly dabbed the sponge onto the agar plate We then popped the sponge in the microwave for about a minute Mel - the sponge started to make some smoke in the microwave so we quickly took it out as the fat on the sponge might catch fire Alice - Now we can dab the very hot microwaved sponge onto another agar plate We then put these plates in a warm place for around 36 hours is there a difference between the two plates Alice - Lots of bacteria grew on the agar plate that have been in contact with the non microwaved sponge which is a tad alarming on the plate that has seen the microwaved sponge there is next to no bacterial growth It seems that microwaving a kitchen sponge is an effective way to kill the bacteria a microbiologist in Furtwangen University in Germany took our experiment to the next level and found that cleaning sponges can have some unintended consequences Markus - Microwaving indeed significantly reduces the number of germs inside a kitchen sponge Dishwashing might even work better due to the use of dishwashing detergents in addition to elevated temperatures putting them into the washing machine at a temperature of at least 60 degrees centigrade and using a bleach containing heavy duty detergent is probably the best way to sanitise kitchen sponges and cloths the long-term effects of regular microwaving (or any other cleaning method) on the microbial community of a kitchen sponge or cloth are largely unknown Markus - Our research suggests that long term cleaning might select for potentially pathogenic and/or smelly bacteria We think this is because some bacteria can adapt to the cleaning process and can easily grow to higher numbers again Alice - Bacteria also proliferates in wet environments so keeping your sponge dry is a good way of preventing bacteria from growing. In general we should avoid using the sponges for too long Next week we’re answering this question from John Does this mean that a Great Dane is massively more intelligent than a Chihuahua cambridge_logo_footer.png ©The Naked Scientists® 2000–2020 | The Naked Scientists® and Naked Science® are registered trademarks created by Dr Chris Smith Information presented on this website is the opinion of the individual contributors and does not reflect the general views of the administrators Cambridge University or the public at large What to do if you need to wash dishes and there aren't enough to justify running the dishwasher But both environmental experts and scientists are now calling time-out on that plan sponges can actually hold up to 45 billion per square centimeter — or about the same level found in an average stool sample we're looking at an average bacterial infestation of 5.5 trillion germs on a single sponge you may also want to be leery of the towel you use to dry your dishes Furtwangen University professor of microbiology Marckus Egert admits the findings were shocking for him and his team "It was one to two orders of magnitude more than we initially expected to find," Egert says "No one had ever seen bacteria sitting inside a sponge One problem we have with bacteria and microbes is that we cannot see them But we'd like to think that the thought of saving water and dumping germ-filled sponges might be enough to avoid washing dishes by hand.