Excellent vehicle for bioterrorism, isn'it? Another way for them to hit financial institutions in this country. Wonder if spray disinfectants work on some of the germs they could be sending our way or whether they render the disinfectants more or less useless.
My Mom always said money was so dirty and SARS? Well thats one mystery possibly solved hey?
From your article about dirty money:
Do you know where the banknotes in your wallet have been in the past 24 hours?
Concern over communicable diseases is giving a new meaning to the term "dirty money."
In response to the SARS outbreak, banks in China have begun disinfecting their currency notes.
Paper money is "quarantined" for 24 hours before it is re-circulated.
"...who examined Indian banknotes,
found germs which can cause
tuberculosis,
meningitis,
pneumonia,
tonsillitis, peptic ulcers, genital tract infections, gastroenteritis,
throat infections and lung abscesses.
The bugs from banknotes infect the body through scratches on the hands
or when the hand touches the mouth or nose.
An even more frightening finding was that banknote bugs have the potential to develop resistance to antibiotics, making the treatment of infectious diseases more difficult.
Five of the 68 bills (seven percent)
had types of bacteria
that commonly cause infections in healthy persons,
such as staphylococcus aureus and klebstella pneumoniae.
A staggering 59 bills (87 percent) were contaminated with types of bacteria that can cause significant infections in patients with depressed immune systems.
These included such nasty-sounding organisms as coagulase-negative staphylococcus, alpha hemolytic streptococcus and escherichia vulneris.
We are obviously carrying more around in our wallets than we think.