Watch out for bagteria
Watch your bag; it could be harboring bacteria – or should we say bagteria. A health team went to the mall, randomly stopped 50 women, and took samples from the bottoms of their bags. The team swabbed the entire lengths of the bags’ bottoms with cotton swabs and placed these swabs in special containers. And here’s what the swab team found: Nearly 1/4 of the handbags tested showed evidence of E. coli growth. (Note: This does not mean that the rest of the bags were clean or germ-free. They still could have carried traces of microbes [like hepatitis], which might may escaped the microscopic eye of the swab team.) While most of its strains are harmless, there’s one Escherichia coli strain – O157:H7 – that produces a powerful toxin that causes severe illness in humans. E. coli enters the body when it contaminates the food we eat; through hand-to-mouth contact with people who have handled items laden with bacteria; or through swimming in microbe-infested waters.
Such contamination may end up in severe bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, with the victim getting well in five to 10 days without treatment. However, in some two to seven percent of infections, usually involving children under five years old and the elderly, the pathogen causes hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening condition where the red blood cells are destroyed and the kidneys malfunction.
So, what do we do to guard against bagteria?
A microbiologist who examined the samples taken from the 50 handbags prescribes that women wash the outside of their bags (or backpacks, briefcases, totes, carryalls) at least once a day with soap and water to help remove any bacteria lurking in the shadows. If your bag can’t take any washing, scrub its outside with a soaped-up facecloth or a disinfectant wipe to get rid of those nasty germs – considering the fact that we often just carelessly put our bags on the floors of public restrooms, at our feet in restaurants, the soiled floors of the car, etc. Be careful where you sit your bag. Do not put your bag on the table where you will eat or on a kitchen counter. Do not put your bag on a wet or damp surface as bacteria/viruses thrive in wet environments.
And as Mom or our grade school teacher used to solicitously nag us, "Wash your hands – especially before and after eating, and after using the toilet."
The gruesome fact is some people don’t bother to wash their hands after using the toilet. Then, too, even if we take the bother to wash our hands after using the public toilet (say in a mall or restaurant), we touch the germ-infested doorknob on our way out. Solution: Use the paper towel you wiped your hands with to open the door and then dispose of it in the nearest waste bin (never, never put it in your bag). A hand sanitizer always comes in handy, too!
Hopefully, getting rid of this bagteria is, uh, in the bag!
As my sis would say it.... yayayuyyayey! Halaaaaa maglinis naaaaa!
Give credit where credit is due.... 
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/LIF...0607150604.htm
BAGTERIA!!!!
Originally Posted by godCode
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