title: Microbial presence on kitchen dishcloths in Chinese households.
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.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China; Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Bin Xiu
authors.initials: BX
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Hai Qun
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Ban
authors.affiliation: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Shanghai, Shanghai 200336, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Shanghai, Shanghai 200336, China.
authors.forename: Yi Lin
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Shanghai, Shanghai 200336, China.
authors.forename: Tai Yao
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei, China.
authors.forename: Shi Yue
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment Health and Related Product Safety, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of China, Beijing 100021, China.
authors.forename: Liu Bo
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D006794:Household Articles