Great quote: Recently it has been shown that in particular Moraxellaceae get significantly enriched on cotton laundry during a domestic washing process. I guess

Great quote: Recently it has been shown that in particular Moraxellaceae get significantly enriched on cotton laundry during a domestic washing process. I guess laundry detergents aren't so great at lysing bacteria! This paper didn't specifically mention how sponges were microwave sterilized, but one of the linked references specified 1 minute on "high". (~1500W, 100% duty cycle, you'd guess) Presumably that wouldn't get any higher than 100C. Would pressure cooker autoclaving work better? There are, of course, bacteria that can survive autoclaves, but I don't know of any that are also pathogenic or coliform.