paper money

I wonder how long Ebola could persist in cash?

Dirty Dollars: That paper money is teeming with germs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/dirty-dollars-that-paper-money-is-teeming-with-germs/2014/04/24/ae806962-cad2-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html

By Michelle Singletary April 24
Your mama may have told you not to put money in your mouth, and she was right on the money.

Researchers at New York University tested dollar bills and found hundreds of different kinds of bacteria, reports the Wall Street Journal. Seriously, their findings will make you want to put on rubber gloves before touching paper cash.

“The NYU researchers identified 3,000 types of bacteria in all — many times more than in previous studies that examined samples under a microscope,” wrote WSJ’s Robert Lee Hotz.


According to the report, Jane Carlton, director of genome sequencing at NYU’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, said: “It was quite amazing to us. We actually found that microbes grow on money.”

They found bacteria that cause gastric ulcers, pneumonia, food poisoning, staph infections and genes responsible for antibiotic resistance.

“Their unpublished research offers a glimpse into the international problem of dirty money,” wrote Hotz. “From rupees to euros, paper money is one of the most frequently passed items in the world. Hygienists have long worried that it could become a source of contagion.”

Here’s an upside to the studies on dirty dollars. The NYU researchers most often found a bacterium that causes acne. So, for those of us always fending off requests for money from our teens, we can now say with authority, “No, honey, I can’t give you any money because it will break you out.”