May 23, 2006 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Dirty Purses
by Stephanie Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
Just about every woman carries with them a handbag and while you may know what's inside your handbags, do you have any idea what's on the outside? CBS 3 put purses to the test and what we found, may have you thinking twice about where you put yours.
CBS 3's Stephanie Abrams has the dirty purse results.
Most women won't be caught dead without their purses, carrying them everywhere.
"Never leave home without it," said one woman.
And they also put them down everywhere.
"I drive a school bus so my purse has been on the floor of the bus, a lot," said another woman.
We all know how dirty floors are so it makes you wonder what's lurking on the bottom of that treasured bag. CBS 3 decided to test random purses and find out.
It turns out the purses we use are so surprisingly dirty that even the microbiologist that tested them was shocked.
"No Idea it would be absolutely that much bacteria," said Amy Karren.
Most of the bacteria found was dangerous.
"We found pseudomonas, staphylococcus aureus, e-coli family and we also found salmonella," Karren said.
Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus aureus can cause serious skin infections and salmonella and e-coli found on the purses can make you very sick.
In one sampling, four of vie purses tested positive for salmonella.
On others, Karren said, "There is fecal contamination on the purses that was found."
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
Still, your purse won't kill you, but you might want to be a little more mindful of where you place it.
"If you think about putting a dirty pair of shoes on your countertop that's the same thing you're doing where you put your purse on the countertop," Karren said.
Keep your handbag cleaner by hanging it on hooks at home and especially in restrooms.
Also, it doesn't hurt to clean the bottom of your purse every so often and wipe away some of that bacteria.
(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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