<p>The toilet seat is believed to be the dirtiest item in the average household, but scientists say the filthiest culprit in your house is the kitchen sponge.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Dr Chuck Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, studied how diseases are transferred through the environment. This involves swabbing household items and measuring how many bacteria - and what sort - develop.<br /><br />In his studies, he particularly looked for faecal bacteria such as E.coli and staphylococcus aureus, BBC News reported.<br /><br />He found that on the average toilet seat there are 50 bacteria per square inch.<br />"It's one of the cleanest things you'll run across in terms of micro-organisms. It's our gold standard - there are not many things cleaner than a toilet seat when it comes to germs," he said.<br /><br />People should be more worried about other household items, it seems.<br />"Usually there are about 200 times more faecal bacteria on the average cutting board than on a toilet seat," he said.<br /><br />In the kitchen it doesn't necessarily get there through actual contact with faeces. It comes via raw meat products or the viscera from inside of the animal, where a lot of the faecal bacteria originate.<br /><br />The filthiest culprit in homes is the kitchen sponge or cloth. According to Gerba, there are about 10 million bacteria per square inch on a sponge, and a million on a dishcloth.<br />In other words, a kitchen sponge is 200,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat, and a dishcloth is 20,000 times dirtier.<br /><br />This is the same the world over, the report said.<br />"Always the dirtiest thing by far is the kitchen sponge," said John Oxford, professor of virology at the University of London and chair of the Hygiene Council - an international body that compares hygiene standards across the world.</p>
<p>The toilet seat is believed to be the dirtiest item in the average household, but scientists say the filthiest culprit in your house is the kitchen sponge.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Dr Chuck Gerba, professor of microbiology at the University of Arizona, studied how diseases are transferred through the environment. This involves swabbing household items and measuring how many bacteria - and what sort - develop.<br /><br />In his studies, he particularly looked for faecal bacteria such as E.coli and staphylococcus aureus, BBC News reported.<br /><br />He found that on the average toilet seat there are 50 bacteria per square inch.<br />"It's one of the cleanest things you'll run across in terms of micro-organisms. It's our gold standard - there are not many things cleaner than a toilet seat when it comes to germs," he said.<br /><br />People should be more worried about other household items, it seems.<br />"Usually there are about 200 times more faecal bacteria on the average cutting board than on a toilet seat," he said.<br /><br />In the kitchen it doesn't necessarily get there through actual contact with faeces. It comes via raw meat products or the viscera from inside of the animal, where a lot of the faecal bacteria originate.<br /><br />The filthiest culprit in homes is the kitchen sponge or cloth. According to Gerba, there are about 10 million bacteria per square inch on a sponge, and a million on a dishcloth.<br />In other words, a kitchen sponge is 200,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat, and a dishcloth is 20,000 times dirtier.<br /><br />This is the same the world over, the report said.<br />"Always the dirtiest thing by far is the kitchen sponge," said John Oxford, professor of virology at the University of London and chair of the Hygiene Council - an international body that compares hygiene standards across the world.</p>