How Clean is Your Handbag?

Is Your Handbag Full of Germs?

ABC News has a horrifying article explaining how our handbags are apparently seething with nasty microorganisms which can make us really sick. Remember that book, The Hot Zone by Richard Preston? Apparently, the bottom of our handbags is like a chapter from that book. You put your handbag down, it picks up E. coli or something else equally awful, then your handbag becomes a "subway for germs" as it carries the little nasties from location to location.
Women rarely go anywhere without a handbag, which means that if a woman enters a place full of germs, so does her bag. That could mean she ends up carrying around microbes that could make her sick all day long. Microbiologist Chuck Gerba researches where organisms that make us sick lurk and lately he says he has found that germs gather on the outside of a woman's handbag, especially on the bottom. "We found fecal bacteria you normally find on the floor of restroom," he said. "We found bacteria that can cause skin infections on the bottom of handbags. What's more amazing is the large numbers we find on the bottom of handbags, which indicates that they can be picking up a lot of other germs like cold viruses or viruses that cause diarrhea."

Using a hand-held germ meter, Gerba demonstrated how much bacteria can grow on a woman's handbag for ABC News, with results that ranged from scary to downright terrifying. Health experts worry when the meter reads over 200, which means thousands of bacteria are present. He found thousands of germs on one woman's handbag. She bought her bag about a month ago and Gerba's measurements showed her handbag also carried thousands of germs. ABC News is not naming the women who participated in order to protect their identities. "I'll probably just get a new one," she said.

Yet another woman has been carrying a handbag around for years and Gerba said that he found "hundreds of thousands of germs on the surface." Gerba found about half a million bacteria on the bottom of one woman's large bag. Each time ABC News and Gerba ran an instant field test and later a lab test on swabs from the outside bottom of 10 women's handbags, every single one had at least some bacteria, most had tens of thousands and a few were saturated with millions. One even had 6.7 million bacteria. Half of the bags tested positive for coliform bacteria, which indicated the possible presence of human or animal waste.

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"It matters because you can move germs that can cause illness from one location to another," he said. "You can later touch that handbag and get them on your hands, or you could put your handbag near a food preparation area and transfer germs to areas you may touch during food preparation." Some women argued that they do not lick the bottom of their handbags, so they should not be in danger of getting sick, but it is very easy to unknowingly transfer germs. For example, whatever touched the bottom of your handbag touches you when you grab it. If you eat a sandwich soon after that, the germs go right into your mouth. "The handbags are really becoming subways for micro organisms," Gerba said. "They're being transferred from one location to another. So it's just like germ 'public transportation.' I'm afraid to touch them. You know, I know too much. I'll never become a handbag snatcher, believe me."
Ok, we are now totally freaked out. So, what are you supposed to do -- use alcohol wipes on your Marc Jacobs leather handbag? Not in this lifetime, honey. Although, we think our Prada microfiber could stand it...maybe. We never put our handbag on the floor -- ever. And we never let it near small children (which is not an easy feat, believe us).

Thanks a lot, ABC News. Now we'll always think of our handbags as little "subways for germs."
Carry with caution

Women, listen up! How clean is your handbag?

Chances are you clean the inside, but have you ever thought about what you're carrying around on the outside, and all the places that handbag ends up. We put our handbags down everywhere.

Sydney, handbag carrier
"On the ground."

Jillian, handbag carrier
"Bathroom stalls."

Holly, handbag carrier
"On the floor at a restaurant."

But have you ever thought about how dirty those floors can be? And what you're carrying away with you?

Holly
"Pretty gross, I never thought of that."

To find out what's on the bag, we tested five handbags and made some disgusting discoveries.
The handbags were covered in bacteria. One had levels so high, the test came back too numerous to count or TNTC.

We also found mold as well as lots of yeast and staph bacteria, which could cause severe skin infections.

Jillian
"It's disgusting, and considering I'm holding mine."

Erika, handbag carrier
"That's pretty bad. I definitly wanna throw that bag out."

The cloth handbags were found to be dirtier than the leather or vinyl ones.

But the biggest handbag problem is where you put down that bacteria-covered bag. Think about it. Your dirty handbag goes on your kitchen counter or table is the same place you put your food.

Andrea Fontainem, Foods Research Labs
"Bacteria just needs a way to get from one point to another. So, the pocketbook serves as a means of moving the bacteria around."

Experts say you probably won't get sick from your handbag, but you do need to handle it with care, which is something the women we spoke with admit they don't do.

Erika
"I don't usually clean it off too much."

Holly
"Not really, no. I will now!"

Here's what you should do: hang up your handbag, especially in public bathrooms. In your house, don't put it in places that should be free of germs, like your table. And use a disinfectant spray to get rid of any bacteria.

It's a lesson these women are now carrying away with them.