Bacterial growth was higher on the purses of women than on those of men (LR = 5.3; P 0.05). It should be noted that the women in the study were more likely to place their purses on kitchen tables, never emptied their purses, and more frequently stored them in their bags. A previous study reported that the insides of women's handbags and shopping bags were laden with bacteria.The bacterial load on the women's purses could possibly increase due to the storage inside the bags.
it was found that as the age of the participant increased, the probability of bacterial contamination of the purse and the mean CFU count also increased (P 0.05).