Germs & Purses

[LadyFran]

I got this in an email today and thought I would share.

Share with anyone who carries a handbag (and don't let anyone put a
>purse on any table from which you eat from now on).
>Bacteria on Purses
>
>This is factual, not a hoax e-mail!
>Fox 5 news (Atlanta, GA) recently aired this report on a study they
>performed on women's purses. Their health team went to a local mall and
>took samples from the bottom of 50 women's purses. The purses were
>swabbed with cotton swabs along the entire bottom of the purses and
>placed into special containers. The swabs were then processed at a
>local laboratory.
>The Health Report also showed where women place their purses: public
>restrooms (on the floor beside the toilet), kitchen counters & kitchen
>tables, on tables & chairs in restaurants, etc.
>
>The results of the laboratory tests contained the following most
>serious
>results:
>1 out of 4 purses has E COLI bacteria on it.
>Other extremely serious bacteria also were listed, including Hepatitis.
>They recommended that women should DAILY wipe their purses
> (particularly the bottom) with a disinfectant wipe and to be
>extremely careful where they put their purses. Most important, do NOT
>place your purse on a table from which you will eat or on a kitchen
>counter and do not put it anywhere close to a toilet. Remember, when
>you flush a toilet, the spray goes a distance that is unrecognizable by
>the human eye.
>WASH YOUR HANDS as often as you can! Keep an antibacterial hand
>sanitizer cleaner (no water needed) in your purse and use it often! And
>as soon as you get home from shopping (or wherever you have been and
>used your purse), immediately wipe it all over with a disinfectant
>wipe.
>
> > >>Repeating, this is a factual report aired on Health News, Fox 5,
>Atlanta, GA., the validity of which has also b een verified through
>"Snopes.com"
>(Internet authority). Please do your part for yourself and everyone
>else!
>
>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
>
>A microbiologist who examined the samples taken from the 50 purses
>recommended women wash the outside of their handbags at least once a
>day with soap and water to help remove any lurking contaminations.
>Clorox wipes will also work to remove germs.
>

 

[amanda]

this is COMPLETELY true! it's not an email hoax at all, i saw the original report on the Atlanta/Fox5 news, just like the email says. apparently there's more bacteria on the average woman's handbag than on the average toilet seat in a public restroom. ever since i saw it, i've held my purse on my lap in restrooms when there's not a hook in the stall to hang it on.

when i was living at home, my mom would never let me put my bag on the countertops or kitchen table, and i never really understood why - did it really have any more gunk on it than anything else? turns out, as always, mommy dearest was correct...

 

[snowwhite]

I had read about this before--EWWWW!!! It made me even more paranoid about where I place my bags!

I like to think that we are more careful than average about where we set our bags down, since we love them so!

I have seen handbags on the floors of restaurants and washrooms--so disgusting!!!

 

[krazylisa]

This is so true I try to be very careful where I set my purse down but I guess the best thing to do is wipe our handbags down daily.

 

[MorningGlory]

Now I can show this to my husband as proof that I am not nuts for not setting my purse down in public.
The poor guy always gets stuck holding my bag while I go into the restroom when we go out.

 

[lucretias]

Yikes! I'm a germphobic, so I would NEVER put my purse on the bathroom floor and am loathe to place it on a bathroom sink. BUT I also hate the idea of using clorox wipe to wipe down my purse. You know they also say toothbrushes should be kept a distance of 6ft from your toilet to present microsprays from the toilet hitting it. YIKES!

 

[Sina]

I would NEVER put my purse on a public restroom floor. yuck!

 

[thompk]

Since my husband is in the Health Care and 'All Organic' Industry...I DO NOT THINK I WILL BE SHOWING HIM THIS!!!!

 

[kathyrose]

I hand mine to BF so he waits for me outside instead of me struggling to not put it anywhere (since I take my Speedy a lot and it's handheld).

 

[sekmeht]

Gross.....be careful where you put your bag....

 

[purselova34]

Yeah, I never put my bag on the bathroom floor because you never know what's there and I always carry tissues and some kind of sanitzer.

 

[ginaf20697]

I'll start worrying when I start eating off the bottom of my purse.

 

[SilverSea]

that is seriously scary!

 

[MaxHavoc]

I cringe when I see women putting their bags on the floor of a publc restroom. Ironically, these same women are oftentimes the ones that walk out without washing their hands when they use the toilet. YUCK!!!

 

[The Snorks]

I'll start worrying when I start eating off the bottom of my purse.

I'm with you on this one. I honestly think that this is a "KILLER! AFRICAN! BEES!" type of report that is meant less to inform the public and more to create hysteria. How else would you get a bunch of women to watch Fox news than to say that their handbags are essentially germ-filled petrie dishes? They know how paranoid us women are about our health. How long have women been carrying handbags? How many of these women have been killed by the germs on their handbags? Unless you are planning on either eating off of or licking your bag, you're bound to be safe.


Lastly, this aired on a station that belongs to FOX "News," the bastion of integrity in reporting (and by this statement, I mean the exact opposite.)