Microwave ovens shown to kill anthrax
Florida researchers prove a concept already known to housewives worldwide; four minutes with a wet sponge is sufficient to disable spores; technique unlikely to work on dry envelopes
Of all the ways to kill anthrax, only one can be accomplished in the privacy of your own kitchen. So reports researchers at the University of Florida, who have found that microwaving the evil bacteria kills it within four minutes. Of course, housewives (and, in these modern days, househusbands) have long known that microwaving sponges kills bacteria but this is the first account of the approach being used on anthrax. “Basically what we find is that we could knock out most bacteria in two minutes,” said professor Gabriel Bitton. “People often put their sponges and scrubbers in the dishwasher, but if they really want to decontaminate them and not just clean them, they should use the microwave.”
Sponges and dishcloths are common carriers of the pathogens because they often remain damp. In order to recreate such an environment, the researchers soaked sponges and scrubbing pads in “raw wastewater containing a witch’s brew of fecal bacteria, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores, including Bacillus cereus spores.” The latter was used as a substitute for anthrax, as the live bacteria is too dangerous to handle. Bacillus cereus spores, however, are like anthrax in that they are extremely resistant to radiation, heat, and toxic chemicals. Nevertheless, it was the heat that killed the Bacillus cereus spores, with the water in the sponge heating up to sufficuent temperatures after four minutes.
A paper describing the research appears in the December issue of the Journal of Environmental Health.
-read more in this university news release
