The dishcloth in use in the kitchen at the time of the visit was also collected and sealed in a sterile plastic bag.
Commonly, dishcloths are used to wipe kitchen surfaces and should be a good indicator of kitchen contamination.
However, widespread contamination of the kitchen may have occurred with the new dishcloth picking up the bacteria as it was used.
Colony counts were similar in case and control dishcloths and refrigerator swabs.
All four households adopted reasonable hygienic precautions in the cleaning of the dishcloths.
In one case and one control both the refrigerators and the dishcloth were contaminated.
The majority of cases and controls were, therefore, visited by making a prior appointment affording equal opportunity to clean the kitchen and change or bleach the dishcloth.
Case dishcloths (10 %) were twice as likely to be contaminated as controls (5 %) but this difference did not reach statistical significance.
