General Cycling Discussion - Backpacks, bags & purses. Do you know where they've been?????

If you own a backpack, purse,fannypack,briefcase, or any other
type of "bag" then this applies to you. The topic here is gross
but not something many of us think about everyday......
but we should.:eek: :eek: :eek:


This is for the guys as well....
please let your wife / girlfriends know!

Where has your purse or bag been???

Probably true of diaper bags too, and backpacks.
So think where you put them........

Have you ever noticed gals who sit their purses on
public restroom floors then go directly to and place
them on 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 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
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 Karen 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.

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,
and more! 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!!!

Purse free since 1984. Purses should be banned. ;)

If you own a backpack...This is for the guys as well....
please let your wife / girlfriends know!
...THIS IS WORTH SHARING!!!
So is the fact that Bill Gates will stuff dirty filthy hundred dollar bills the handbag of anyone who passes this info on to as many people as possible.

Did you know there are billions of bacteria on your skin at this very moment? There are probably a million more on the keyboard that you're using and the mouse you've just touched. Be afraid, be very very afraid.

And when you're done, change the channel to a station that doesn't need another shock & awe human interest story to drive up ratings.

Yoiks !!! Deys Goims everywhere !! :)

Meh, I grew up in a 3rd world country. Open gutters, squat toilets, non-potable water, etc.

American germs got nothing on me. :)

As someone who will happily eat something after it falls on a high traffic floor, its hard to say that I care when I don't.

When I started my Educational IT class last month, we were informed that according to various studies that have been done, public keyboards (like the ones we use in class, like the one I'm using in the college library right now, like the ones that I'll use in the schools when I start teaching, like the ones found in internet cafes, etc.) are more filthy than the toilets in McDonald's restaurants.

Why? Because you just never know where the hands which touched those keyboards before you have been .... and germs of various sorts last many hours, even days in some cases.

I'd be more concerned about the keyboard in front of me, than my backpack sitting on the floor next to me.

I was told when I was small, that I couldnt die until I had eaten a pound of dirt.

Honestly, we probably have a ton of fecal matter all over the place. I think saturday night live did a skit on that once. It was called, "Fecal Vision." People could wear glasses that let them see the smallest amount of fecal matter. Well, I think we all know what they looked like. Everything was covered in this glowing material. Honestly, I really dont want to know how much S*$# is all over me at anyone one time, because I would probably scrub myself raw.

i'm too butch to carry a purse but i think it's okay to set them on counters. i don't put food on the counter unless i scrub the counter first. plus a lot of the immunological problems (including asthma) that we have today are suspected to be rooted in how sanitized our modern environments are. we need to be exposed to germs to become immune to them. our bodies have lots of defenses against all this stuff.

i want all food service and health professionals to be very clean and conscientious, because of the nature of their jobs, but i don't want to freak out about every germ. washing your hands too much can crack your skin and let germs in anyway :)