I've gotten this article before but it was P.B. (pre-blog) so I only sent it on and never really thought of it again. Well, when I was glancing at my friend Chris's blog today, it reminded me that I now have a way to reach more people. So, that being said, ladies of the world............. Sanatize your purse! ~JMom got so upset when guests came in the door and plopped their purses down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. She always said that purses are really dirty, because of where they have been. Smart Momma!!! It's something just about every woman carries with them. While we may know what's inside our purses, do you have any idea what's on the outside?Shauna Lake put purses to the test - for bacteria - with surprising results. You may think twice about where you put your purse. Women carry purses everywhere; from the office to public restrooms to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught without their purses, but did you ever stop to think about where your purse goes during the day?"I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, where a baby just sat with a dirty diaper, on the floor of bathroom stalls, says another woman " and of course in my home which should be clean."We decided to find out if purses harbor a lot of bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, then we set out to test the average woman's purse.Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their purse. Most said at home they usually set their purses on top of kitchen tables and counters where food is prepared. Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't be surprised if their purses were at least a little bit dirty.It turns out purses are so surprisingly dirty, even the microbiologist who tested them was shocked. Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly all of the purses tested were not only high in bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria. Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aurous can cause serious skin infections, and salmonella and e-coli found on the purses could make people very sick. In one sampling, four of five purses tested positive for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it. "There is fecal contamination on the purses," says Amy.Leather or vinyl purses tended to be cleaner than cloth purses, and lifestyles seemed to play a role. People with kids tended to have dirtier purses than those without, with one exception. The purse of one single woman who frequented nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all. "Some type of feces, or possibly vomit" says Amy.So the moral of this story - your purse won't kill you, but it does have the potential to make you very sick if you keep it on places where you eat. Use hooks to hang your purse at home and in restrooms, and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or on your kitchen countertop.Experts say you should think of your purse the same way you would a pair of shoes. "If you think about putting a pair of shoes onto your countertops, that's the same thing you're doing when you put your purse on the countertops" - your purse has gone where individuals before you have sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc! Do you really want to bring that home with you?Themicrobiologists at Nelson also said Cleaning a purse will help. Wash cloth purses and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of leather purses.
