Gross!!!!! Time to get out the bleach

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 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 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 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!!!