This was an email sent to me a couple of days ago...

Have you ever noticed gals who sit their purses on public restroom floors - then go
directly to their dining tables and set it on the table? Happens a
lot!

It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes stomach distress.
Sometimes "what you don't know 'will' hurt you"! Read on...

Mom 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 drive a school bus, so my purse has been on the floor of the
bus a lot," says one woman. "On the floor of my car, and in restrooms."


"I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, on the floor of bathroom
stalls while changing a diaper," 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 Karren 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 lifestyle 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?

The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a purse
will help. Wash cloth purses and use leather cleaner to clean the bottom of
leather purses.

THIS IS WORTH
SHARING

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