Microbial presence on kitchen dishcloths in Chinese households.

Jin Shen; Bin Xiu Zhao; Tao LI; Hai Qun Ban; Liang Tian; Yi Lin GE; Tai Yao Chen; Shi Yue LI; Liu Bo Zhang

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Microbial presence on kitchen dishcloths in Chinese households.

Author: Jin SHEN ^{1
,

2} ; Bin Xiu ZHAO ³ ; Tao LI ³ ; Hai Qun BAN ³ ; Liang TIAN ⁴ ; Yi Lin GE ⁴ ; Tai Yao CHEN ⁴ ; Shi Yue LI ⁵ ; Liu Bo ZHANG ³
Author Information

1. School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China
2. Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
3. Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
4. Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Shanghai, Shanghai 200336, China.
5. School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China.
Publication Type:Letter
MeSH: China; Environmental Microbiology; Household Articles
From: Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2014;27(12):978-981
CountryChina
Language:English
Abstract: To study the microbiological contamination of kitchen dishcloths in Chinese housholds, 1010 'in-use' kitchen dishcloths were collected from residential premises in Beijing and Shanghai, and they were sent to the laboratory for microbiological quality analysis. The aerobic plate counts for dishcloths were 10-109 cfu/cm2 in the range of 150 cfu/cm2 to 1.776×109 cfu/cm2 (Beijing) and 62.5 cfu/cm2 to 8.75×108 cfu/cm2 (Shanghai). Nineteen species of bacteria were detected in the dishcloths, most of which were conditional pathogenic bacteria. This study found a significant difference in the aerobic plate counts of dishcloths with regard to type, number of the days used, activities used for, and some family factors. The findings of the study highlight the potential for contamination of kitchen dishcloths within homes.