Why is a dishwashing sponge dangerous?

I want to share my unexpected joy: recently I became the happy owner of a dishwasher, so now I have a lot of free time for my favorite pastime - soap making. My husband bought me a dishwasher, seemingly for no reason or reason. As it turned out, on the way to work, he listened to the news on the radio. And suddenly I heard that some European scientists had found out: a dishwashing sponge is a dangerous source of various infections. He checked this information on several sites and was horrified by the danger that I exposed myself daily during normal homework.

Statistics on a piece of paper

In order not to be unfounded, my husband showed me the paper on which he wrote the statistics of these studies. I would accept such a welcome assistant with great gratitude in any case. But what I saw on this leaf, to be honest, threw me into shock, only once again convincing us of the correctness of our acquisition.

Judge for yourself: a regular kitchen sponge contains up to 50 billion different microorganisms per cubic centimeter. These are viruses and bacteria of 35 orders from 73 families. Many of these microorganisms can cause dangerous diseases: intestinal infections, pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis and others.

Just imagine, all this living creature lives not only on the surface of the sponge, but also in the pores, and every day we touch it all with our hands (I caught myself thinking that I had never used gloves)! And by the way, we also breathe the air through which the microbes grown in the sponge fly! Then I thought about the fact that, perhaps, all this abomination inevitably remains on the washed plates ... How I was grateful to my spouse for such care, you can’t imagine!

If you are still using a dishwashing sponge, do not ask your children (even if they are already teenagers) to do this for you. Their immune system is the most vulnerable, and therefore the risk of catching their infection is much higher!

Where does all this come from?

Indeed, because we constantly wash the sponge, and with detergents ... Why aren’t microbes washed off?

It turns out that for the multiplication of bacteria, the dishwashing sponge has all the most favorable conditions:

warmly;
constant high humidity;
constant contact with potential carriers of bacteria - the remnants of food, the dishes themselves and our hands.

It turns out that the more thoroughly we wash our favorite plates, the more infections we transfer from them to the sponge and hospitably offer bacteria to multiply in the hall and bliss.

At the same time, scientists noted that boiling (or prolonged heating) as a method of disinfection does not work here. The fact is that less tenacious microorganisms, of course, die. But they free up the "living space" for those who are most adapted to high temperatures. And these are most often the most dangerous bacteria. For me, a dishwasher is better than such a "densely populated" sponge.

Although, I must admit, once it seemed to me that there was no particular use for washing equipment, but on the contrary, there were only wastes (consumption of water, electricity, detergents). But after the birth of three children, my views changed in the opposite direction: for all the expenses (which actually turned out to be not so great), the dishwasher is a significant saving in the time of my wife and mother. And now I still found out about these hordes of infection on the lips ...

If you are not in danger of buying a dishwasher in the near future, at least disinfect your kitchen sponge. At least twice a week, dip it in a solution with chlorine-based bleach. True, after such executions, the sponges become unusable quite quickly, and they have to be changed.

Of course, I’m not agitating all of you to flee to the home appliance store and buy a dishwasher, especially of a certain brand. But I considered it necessary to warn you of the danger posed by ordinary kitchen sponges for washing dishes. And forewarned means armed. Is not it?

With respect to women's chores and household health, Natalia Gorelykh, housewife.