You can rid your kitchen sponges and scrubbers of dangerous contaminants such as E.Coli and salmonella by nuking them in a microwave for two minutes -- but make sure the items are thoroughly wet before heating.

Two minutes of zapping on full power can destroy more than 99 percent of the potentially disease-causing microbes that tend to congregate in dishcloths, sponges and scrubbers, according to research published in the Journal of Environmental Health.

However, a cautionary note is in order: The sponges must be wet prior to heating them up, or the process could result in a kitchen fiasco.

Some individuals who were eager to try out the process after reading initial reports of the findings placed dry items in their microwaves with disastrous results -- including the destruction of both sponges and ovens and, in some cases, nasty odors that lingered for hours.

Unclean sponges may seem like a small problem, but the fact is that more than 76 million people are sickened by food poisoning each year in the US, and approximately 5,000 of those cases are fatal, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many can be traced to household kitchens where unsanitary dishcloths and sponges abound. Cleaning these items in the dishwasher doesn't kill the germs they harbor.

To conduct their experiment, Gabriel Bitton, a professor of environmental engineering at the University of Florida, and colleagues soaked sponges and scouring pads in raw wastewater that contained fecal bacteria loaded with E. coli, viruses, protozoan parasites and bacterial spores.

After two minutes of heating the sponges, all of the contaminants except some of the spores were eliminated. It took four to 10 minutes to completely sanitize the sponges, they reported.

In addition to making sure the sponges are completely wet, people who try the technique should also note that items containing metal cannot be sterilized in a microwave. Caution should be exercised in removing the sponges, as they will be hot.