Failure to clean these common household items carries hidden health risks

Developing scalp boils, tooth decay and fungal infections may be easier than you might think The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. LifestyleHealth & FamiliesFailure to clean these common household items carries hidden health risksDeveloping scalp boils, tooth decay and fungal infections may be easier than you might thinkJulia Musto in New York Saturday 21 February 2026 10:02 ESTBookmarkCommentsGo to commentsBookmark popoverRemoved from bookmarksClose popoverHow to clean your hairbrush in several easy stepsYour support helps us to tell the storyRead moreSupport NowFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. 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We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreIt’s easy to see when surfaces and major appliances are dirty - but there are some smaller household items that could be putting your health at risk with E. coli, Salmonella, Staph and other fatal infections.Toiletries like sponges, toothbrushes and hairbrushes may seem counterintuitive to clean - especially if you’re frequently replacing old brushes with new ones. But not so.“People use them to clean - either their belongings or themselves,” wrote the American Society for Microbiology’s Dr. Madeline Barron. “However, many of the household spaces, tools and appliances people associate with ‘clean’ are, from a microbial standpoint, far from it.”Billions of bacteria in your palmopen image in galleryProducts you use every day like a sponge or toothbrush may be harboring millions of species of bacteria or fungi, experts warn, with consequences for human health (Getty Images/iStock)More than 50 billion species of bacteria can live on the surface of a 4x6-inch kitchen sponge. That’s because the sponge’s synthetic foam is constantly wet and able to absorb and host a lot of organisms, some of which are deadly.“Gammaproteobacterial species (e.g., E. coli) are common members of the sponge microbiota. Food-borne pathogens, like Klebsiella pneumonieae, which can infect everything from the lungs to urinary tract, also inhabit sponges, along with various viruses and archaea,” Barron explained. E. coli, Salmonella and Staph can survive for up to 16 days on a kitchen sponge, according to the society’s research. These infections cause thousands of deaths in the U.S. each year, with Staph infections tied to 20,000 associated deaths in 2017.This exposure can occur even after just two or three uses, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics says. The academy recommends that people replace sponges every one or two weeks. You can tell if the kitchen sponge is bacteria-ridden if it has started to smell. But there are ways to clean the sponge and kill the bacteria, according researchers at Michigan State University. Microwaving a wet sponge - a dry sponge can burst into flames - for one or two minutes should be sufficient to kill any bacteria. You can also wash the sponge in a dishwasher on its hottest cycle. A sanitizing solution of warm water and concentrated chlorine bleach can also work, if you soak the sponge for one minute. Dental disasters A damp toothbrush may be working to keep teeth clean but dentists warn of danger lurking between the bristles before and after use. More than 10 million bacteria and fungi can hide in a single toothbrush, according to research from England’s Manchester University.“That means there are considerably more bacteria on a toothbrush than an average toilet seat (which has 50 bacteria per square inch) or average public lavatory floor (two million bacteria per square inch),” the British Dental Journal wrote in 2016. Some of those bacteria are the same as those found on sponges, such as E. coli, Klebsiella, the yeast infection-causing Candida and tooth decay-causing S. mutans, according to a study from Indian researchers in 2015.open image in galleryJust one toothbrush may harbor more than 10 million species of bacteria and fungi, according to U.K. researchers (Getty Images)A large part of that exposure may be based on where the toothbrush lives. It may be the easiest to place the toothbrush on the sink next to the toilet, but the toilet can expel fecal matter - and even harmful pathogens - with every flush.Around 70 percent of used toothbrushes assessed by separat