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Medical Alerts & Other Health Issues - Information To Help You Live A Healthier Life
Is Your Purse or Briefcase Clean?
We received the following from our District Surgeon, and I'll include his opening comments first.
| Quote: : |
| Speaking as your District 2 Surgeon, the following is most interesting. I tried to check it out on Snopes, while they don't have this message as such, they do have a related, and marked true, message which verifies the message below. You can read it at http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/purse.asp. |
By the way, you'll notice I've added briefcase in the title, but now that I think about it we should say sports bags might fit this category. Any kind of handbag, yes?
Here's the notice:
Have you ever noticed gals who set their purses on public restroom floors beside the toilet - and then put them directly on their dining tables?
It 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 know what's inside our purses, do you have any idea what's on the outside?
Sheila 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," says Amy.
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.
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I don't even want to think of where my wife's purse has been. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Rob
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But remember, Rob, your briefcase, a rucksack, and so on all fall into the same category of 'be aware, be careful'.
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