It sounds like the kind of story that makes the rounds of email messages and Facebook postings every now and then, but in fact, this is a real phenomenon.  If you use a kitchen towel to clean up a grease spill, you need to take care how you launder and store that towel afterward:

http://www.news-record.com/news/local_news/article_d5abc5dc-f902-11e3-9bf9-0017a43b2370.html