Microwave oven irradiation as a method for bacterial decontamination in a clinical microbiology laboratory.

Exposure of 10 frequently isolated clinical pathogens to microwave irradiation resulted in total sterilization with 60 s. Time exposure experiments done with commercially prepared test strips containing Bacillus stearothermophilus spores indicated that 5-min exposure was adequate to insure sterility of small, contaminated loads.