For those that carry a purse.

got this from an email.

>>Something to Seriously think about! Please share with anyone that
>>you know that carries a purse.
>>
>>
>>NEVER REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT THIS BEFORE!!
>>
>>Have you ever noticed gals who sit their purses on public restroom
>>floors
>>-
>>that go directly to their dining tables? 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 a guest came in the door and plopped their purses down on
>>the counter where she was cooking or setting up the buffet. 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

>>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, probably 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 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 even possibly vomit or something like that,"
>>
>>So the moral of this story - your purse won't kill you, but it does
>>has 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 every individual before you has spat,
>>coughed, 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!!!

[Marilyn]

I read something about this on Health.com. They suggested we go out and buy more purses , so we can change them out and use a fresh one. Leather or vinyl is best, not cloth, so they can be cleaned. Sounds like a good suggestion to me!!

[Janet]

I have never looked at it that way....although I've never put my purse on a table dining out. I have here at home, but will never do it again. I thought I was pretty much a clean freak when it comes to this kind of stuff, but this one passed me by....