I discovered this little snippet on Snopes

Nasty Purses I was really surprised at this and honestly had never thought about Have you ever noticed gals who sit their purses on public restroom floors - then go directly to their dining tables and set it on the table? 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 guests came in the door and plopped their purses down on the counter where she was cooking or setting up food. 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? these purses were tested 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," said one woman. "On the floor of my car, and in restrooms." "I put my purse in grocery shopping carts, on the floor of bathroom stalls while changing a diaper," said another woman "and of course in my home which should be clean." They were tested at Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake, Most women told us they didn't stop to think about what was on the bottom of their purse. Most said at home 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 Karren 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, hylococcus 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 possibly vomit," 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 individuals before you have sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated, emptied bowels, etc! Do you really want to bring that home with you? I thought not Source