Handbags and Bacteria

How many times do you see a woman without a purse?  Probably not too often I’m betting. The purse serves the important purpose of keeping the day organized with cell phones, checkbooks, money, make-up, etc.  It is a very similar situation as with men, who are almost never without a  wallet.

Purses are fashionable and come in a variety of sizes, styles, colors, and fabrics.  Regardless of the type of purses women have, they (for the most part) go to the same locations with their purses such as; work, church, store, car, bathroom, etc.

A woman will probably set her purse down at some point during the day, such as on the counter of a store, a desk at work, the floor of a restaurant… Why the three little dots after the word “restaurant” you ask?  It isn’t because the purse is at a restaurant, it’s because the floor happens to be an overlooked place that is sometimes crawling with fecal matter and other bacteria.

Microbiologist expert at Nelson Labs, Amy Karen, did a study on 50 handbags from women and discovered many different types of  bacteria and viruses which included;  E. coli (Escherichia coli) salmonella, and herpes, as some of the more  commonly found tenants on the handbags.  Leather handbags and purses seemed easier to clean as opposed to purses made of fabric. ( that may be something to think about if you have a fabric purse or handbag)

Think about the last time you cleaned your purse as compared to the last time you set your purse down somewhere and then took it back home and put it on your kitchen counter.  One of the ladies that we polled told us that she has wipes in her purse, but sometimes does not bother using them because it takes too long to find them and wipe her purse clean.  She proclaimed,  ”Wipes don’t kill every germ anyway, so what’s the point?”