These 5 most common household items are actually extremely dirty! (No. 4 is used by everyone)

Everyone has different habits when it comes to cleaning the house. But even if you clean your house every day, every corner, you will inevitably miss some details.

Some common things in life look clean, but are actually much dirtier than you think.

1. Dishwashing sponge

You would never guess that dishwashing sponges may be the items with the most bacteria in the whole home, even more than toilet brushes. In 2017, a study published in the journal Nature by microbiologist Markus Eggert of Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences in Germany showed that the number of bacteria per cubic centimeter on a long-used dishwashing sponge was as high as 54 billion, and the number of bacterial species on the entire sponge could reach 362.

This is because the dishwashing sponge has a loose and porous structure, and bacteria from food, cutting boards, sinks and dishes are transferred to the sponge through surface contact. Each hole of different sizes and separation from each other can not only provide a humid environment for bacteria, but also allow different species of bacteria to live here peacefully.

In 2022, the team of Lingchong You, a professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University, further confirmed through computer simulation and experiments in a study on spatial partitioning and microbial diversity that kitchen sponges can be distributed at multiple levels to cultivate a richer variety of microorganisms than in professional laboratory equipment. Among them, Salmonella and Enterobacter cloacae are relatively common species, and people with low immunity need to be vigilant.

Some people may ask, would it be better to dry it immediately after use? The results are not satisfactory. A study compared sponges that were hung on a tray after use and those that were kept in a bag to keep them moisturized. It was found that the number of bacteria in the two was not much different.

To improve this situation, in addition to replacing the dishwashing sponge every one to two weeks, you can try to use other products instead. For example: ↓↓↓

1. Disposable kitchen rags can be thrown away after use;

2. Dishwashing brushes have a relatively simple structure and are less likely to allow microorganisms to grow;

3. Wood pulp sponge, which can be dried in a short time;

4. Dishwasher can not only disinfect and sterilize, but also free your hands and reduce family conflicts.

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2. Mop

Like dishwashing sponges, mops, which bring cleanliness to the home, can also get dirty easily.

Many people are used to drying the mop directly in the bathroom after mopping it, but the environment here is relatively humid. Mops are mostly made of cotton cloth, cotton thread and microfiber. If they are kept in a humid environment for a long time, they are easy to be filled with mold, fungi, dust mites and other microorganisms. The next time you use it, it may seem like you are mopping the floor, but in fact you may be transferring bacteria.

If you mop the floor only once in a long time, the mop will stay in the same place for a long time, which will form an anaerobic environment, allowing microorganisms to carry out anaerobic metabolism and produce metabolites with special odors such as sulfur chloride and ammonia. Sometimes, after you mop the floor, the whole house emits a fishy smell, which is probably due to them.

The relatively correct cleaning method is, after using the mop each time, first use clean water to remove visible attached stains, then soak it in warm water with detergent added, and use up and down pressing to clean it. The most important thing is to dry it in the sun, and not dry it in the shade in a humid place like the bathroom!

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3. Carpet

Carpets can improve the comfort of home life and can also serve as soft furnishings to make the room appear warm, but they are actually a hotbed for dirt and filth.

We know that the soles of the feet have far more sweat glands than other parts of the body, which means that a carpet is likely to contain a combination of sweat, sebum, bacteria, and dust in the air. However, the hair on the carpet can be a "blind spot", and many people don't realize how dirty it is. According to a British data, 84% of people think that the carpets in their homes are clean, and 63% of people don't know that there are bacteria and allergens on the carpet.

Different from the floor mats at the entrance where you change shoes, the carpets in the bedroom have more functions. When we lie down, sit or lie on the carpets, every time we touch the carpets, it is like a "provocation" to the body's immune system. For the sake of health, you need to pay attention to the following when laying carpets at home:

1. Use a vacuum cleaner to clean the carpet regularly;

2. It is best to wash your feet before stepping on the carpet, and try not to lie on the carpet;

3. If it is a large and expensive carpet, it is best not to use a washing machine to clean it, but send it to a professional cleaning company.

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4. Mobile Phone

For modern people, mobile phones are definitely the most commonly used items. They are indispensable for entertainment, communication, work, and shopping, but they also contain a lot of bacteria. In 2019, scientists at the University of Arizona found in a study on mobile devices that the number of bacteria on mobile phones is ten times more than that on toilet seats.

This statement makes sense. Think about it, many people use their mobile phones to watch videos and play games while in the toilet, but rarely disinfect their phones. A study confirmed this, 50% of the mobile phone screens tested had Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is common in cockroach feces, and all mobile phone screens contained Escherichia coli and fecal streptococci, bacteria commonly found in feces.

Not just the toilet, the more places the phone is used, the more bacteria will accumulate. When you think about being so close to your phone, even putting it by the bed every night before going to bed, do you feel scared?

So we still need to pay attention to:

1. Do not use your mobile phone when using the toilet, especially when flushing the toilet;

2. Wash your hands frequently after touching public areas, before meals and after going to the bathroom. Also remember to disinfect your phone with alcohol swabs or alcohol wipes to avoid cross-infection.

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5. Express Box

Courier boxes are familiar to everyone. During transportation, they will be contaminated with many stains, bacteria and viruses, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, adenovirus, syncytial virus, etc. What is more unexpected is that it may also be a habitat for some insects. Many people have had this experience: the house was originally clean and there was no small insect, but one day a few cockroaches suddenly came. As the saying goes, when you see cockroaches, it means that there are actually many at home. Courier boxes are generally made of cardboard. The composition of cardboard is not a stack of layers of paper. There may be a layer of wavy core paper sandwich in the middle, which is enough to serve as a shelter for cockroaches. When you take it home, the eggs laid by cockroaches will hatch. Seeing this, if there are people in the family who are used to collecting courier boxes and collecting them to sell at the scrap station, it is best to remind them not to stack them directly on the balcony and other places. If there is no suitable place to store them, it is better not to lose the big picture for the small. After all, the economic losses and mental pain brought by the dirty and messy environment are much greater than the economic benefits brought by recycling paper shells.

References

[1]Feilun Wu, Yuanchi Ha, Andrea Weiss, Meidi Wang, Jeffrey Letourneau, Shangying Wang, Nan Luo, Shuquan Huang, Charlotte T. Lee, Lawrence A. David, Lingchong You. Modulation of microbial community dynamics by spatial partitioning. Nature Chemical Biology, 2022.

[2]Cardinale, M., Kaiser, D., Lueders, T., Schnell, S., & Egert, M. (2017). Microbiome analysis and confocal microscopy of used kitchen sponges reveal massive colonization by Acinetobacter, Moraxella and Chryseobacterium species. Scientific reports, 7(1), 5791.[3]Your Cell Phone Is 10 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat. Here's What to Do About It retrieved from https://time.com/4908654/cell-phone-bacteria/

[4]How dirty is your phone? New study shows harmful bacteria from toilets found lurking on devices retrieved fromhttps://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/how-dirty-is-your-phone-new-study-shows-harmful-bacteria-from-toilets-found-lurking-on-devices/articleshow/98796521.cms?from=mdr

[5]Jing Qian,Denina Hospodsky,Naomichi Yamamoto,WW Nazaroff,Jordan Peccia.(2012).Size-resolved emission rates of airborne bacteria and fungi in an occupied classroom.Indoor Air.

Planning and production

Author: Li Mi Popular Science Author

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association

Planning丨Fu Sijia

Editor: Fu Sijia

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin