Where has your Handbag been?

green | July 10th, 2009 - 12:25 PM

handbags

Women love their handbags and men are starting to use the manbag. A handbag is not just a container to hold our stuff, it makes a fashion statement and can make you feel great when you carry it. But it also has the potential to make you pretty sick.The recent swine flu frenzy has given us all a wake up call regarding cleanliness – the fifteen second hands soap up, covering when we cough and using antibacterial gel, killing germs when not using soap and water.

From public transport to the bathroom floor our handbags often find themselves sitting in filthy surroundings. They touch the floor of that smelly bar then we pick our handbags and continue spreading the germs through our cars, homes, and even the tables on which we eat.

Microbiologists tested samples from hundreds of handbag bottoms and they found some level of bacteria on every single bag—about a quarter had bacteria counts in the tens of thousands—including pseudomona, staphylococccus aureus, E. coli, and salmonella. In one sampling, four out of five bags tested positive for salmonella.

These germs cause skin rashes, eye and skin infections, and serious skin boils. Salmonella and E. coli cause food poisoning-like symptoms, including fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. Many samples of the handbags also tested positive for fecal matter. When we flush the toilet, that water sprays, so anything set on the ground is likely to pick up some of it.

To avoid this bacteria, avoid putting your bag on the floor  anywhere. In a restaurant, grab an extra chair to use as a bag rest. In the bathroom, hang it around your neck if there’s no hook in the bathroom stall, throw it in a locker at the gym instead of carrying it around. And please don’t set it on the restaurant table while paying the bill.

Although our handbags won’t kill us, they do have the potential to make us pretty sick. Until someone convinces bar and restaurant table designers to start putting hangers near where we sit, it’s time we all invest in some sanitizing products for our handbags.

Thanks to Shannon Leary for suggesting this article.

divine caroline: Haute Germs: Are Handbags Making Us Sick?

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