This article was very informational and really helped shed light on what exactly lives on the money we touch, it was enlightening but kinda scary at the same same time.
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Wednesday, April 23, 2014
Microbes on your Money?
I know you have all heard of the stories of traces of cocaine on 99% of money being circulated in the US everyday. I know you have also heard the stories of germs on money and how you should always wash your hands after touching it. However, new findings show that all these tales can be more than true, and there is a lot more about whats hiding on our money than we thought we previously knew. Each dollar, five dollar, ten dollar etc bill we touch has over 3,000 different microbes living on it. Most of these little guys are harmless in nature though, they just simply stick to the bill when touched. Your money could even contain traces of anthrax or diphtheria. There are also predictions that this is how antibiotic resistant microbes get transferred from person to person. It's all on the cash we have to touch to get food, clothes and other necessary items for our daily life. Scientists tested 80 dollar bills floating around Manhattan and found that the most commonly circulated microbe is the one that causes acne. Runners up are microbes that live in the mouth and vagina. Their advice is to simply wash your hands after touching your money to help stop the spread of disease and possibly end some major outbreaks that have been happening in the US.
This article was very informational and really helped shed light on what exactly lives on the money we touch, it was enlightening but kinda scary at the same same time.
This article was very informational and really helped shed light on what exactly lives on the money we touch, it was enlightening but kinda scary at the same same time.
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Sami, this article opened my eyes to see how many pathogenic microbes there are floating around on money. We all touch money every day, some people touch it longer if they work with money. It is kind of gross how many germs get spread just through the distribution of money. According to this study there are tons of seriously dangerous microbes stuck on money. I would have never guessed that there were microbes from all of our body parts stuck on money. It is also interesting that the most dominant microbe on money is the one that causes acne. Microbes are strange organisms that get around one way or another. It would be kind of fun to be a microbe because they get to travel around the world with little cost. It would also be scary to be a microbe because their environments are constantly changing and they are always at risk of death. I have learned a lot from this article and I will always wash my hands after handling money.
ReplyDeleteI always knew that money was very dirty! Truthfully though, I never heard of the statement “traces of cocaine on 99% of money being circulated in the US everyday.” If this is true, that is crazy! If these, traces of anthrax, can be on our money, is it to little to even take notice or cause harm? Mostly everybody touches money, because let’s face it; money is what we need to live. Like you said, we have to touch it to get food and other necessities. It’s interesting to think how one bill can be touched by thousands, if not, millions of people! It would seem to me like money is a microbe’s luxury home because of all the “things” that get transferred onto money. (For microbes who love those conditions.) Many questions arise in my view of this article. Are coins the same way? Do they carry the same microbes as bills? I also wonder if bills’ microbes are different in different cities or states? Also, is there anything being done about the “dirtiness” of money? One thing is certain, money is probably going to always be around (in our lifetime at least) and I guess we’ll just have to wash our hands every time we touch it!
ReplyDelete-Angelo V.
I have never like handling money since I have always new that it was really dirty. That is why I do not like to handle cash and I try to make all of my purchases with my debit card. I had also heard that there are small traces of cocaine on all bills in circulation, but I would have never suspected that as much as 3000 species of microbes could be living on single bill at any one time. I had always thought that microbes could not survive that long on those types of surfaces but I guess I was wrong, and I can only imagine where the microbes that live in mouths and vaginas came from. This article has also freaked me out a bit since I work as a cashier and have to handle cash all the time! I think I am going to have to start taking hand sanitizer to work!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, this was really interesting. I knew that money had a lot of germs on it but I never thought about what kinds. It's insane that these microbes found on money were traced back to such different and intimate parts of the body. I don't even want to think about how those microbes got there. This subject is really interesting to me because it links directly to the transfer of microbes from once place to the other. We take our money everywhere, all around the world, which explains how a lot of microbes end up somewhere completely different. This could also explain why sometimes we get sick without knowing how or why. We don't wear gloves while handling money, and I'm betting most people don't wash their hands after handling it. Kids put money to their mouth. Cashiers handle money on a daily basis and just by putting their hands up to their face once could result in the transfer of microbes.
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