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KSL Newsradio's Chelsea Hedquist reportingYour purse goes everywhere you go, and it picks up some nasty bacteria along the way. But is it something you should worry about?
It seems like everything these days can be a bacterial breeding ground; Cell phones, laptop keyboards, even purses. In fact, most women admit they don't clean their purse.
"I don't think I can remember the last time I cleaned my purse," said Adrian.
Ashley said the same thing about her purse, "I've never washed it."
That can be slightly disconcerting if you think about where your purse ends up on a daily basis. At least, it was for Ashley.
"Oh, it ends up on the floor of my car, the floor of the bathroom," she said. "Everywhere my shoes go basically the purse goes."
While it may be unpleasant to think about the bottom of your purse moving from the floor of a public restroom to your kitchen counter, don't worry too much, said Susan Mottice, an epidemiologist with the Utah Department of Health. She said bacteria on your purse are just a part of life.
"I think it's important for people to realize that we live in a sea of bacteria," she said.
That sounds kind of gross, but Mottice says, "We live quite happily daily - on a daily basis - coexisting with these bacteria."
Bottom line, your purse, and lots of other things, are covered with bacteria, but it's probably better to focus on following simple hygene and sanitation rules, rather than stressing about getting a disease from your purse.
If you're still worried about germs, Mottice says you can always take your favorite purse to a dry cleaner. One dry cleaner who spoke to KSL says they hand-clean purses using 250-degree steam and a special spray called Odorzorm. Nor bacteria is expected to withstand it.
