Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of bacteria cultured from a used dishcloth. Dishcloths can have six times as many bacteria as toilet handles according to some studies. They often harbour harmful E. coli bacteria, which can cause diarrhoea that can be fatal in vulnerable people. Many people fail to clean their dishcloth at a high enough temperature to kill commonly present bacteria such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, E. coli, and Listeria. Magnification: x6500 when printed at 10cm wide.