15 Household Items That Can Make You Sick

A notorious hotbed for bacteria is your kitchen sponge. In August of 2017, a study found over 300 species of bacteria living on kitchen sponges. It also turns out that soaking them in hot, soapy water isn’t the best method of killing these microbes, either. In fact, the moist, warm environment can actually encourage bacterial growth! Microwaving the sponges, however, has been shown to offer better results, as the high heat quickly kills the harmful pathogens. It should be noted, though, that of the 300-and-some species of bacteria the study found living on kitchen sponges, only a very small percent could cause serious harm to an individual.

Still, your best bet is to avoid germ growth on your sponges in the first place. You can do this by keeping the sponges away from raw meat, washing them every few days, and replacing them with fresh ones every couple of weeks.