SARS: Dirty Money

One avenue of virus transmission overlooked or ignored is money.

Think about it. A man sneezes on his hand, unaware he's infected. He buys a newspaper from a street vendor. Money, infected money, changes hands. The vendor becomes a possible victim. The vendor in turn passes change to another customer. Some of that change belonged to the first customer. Possible victim number two.

On it goes.

An article I read pointed out a study on how money can transmit diseases. The American Society of Microbiology examined dollar bills collected from students at a high-school game and from shoppers at a grocery stores. Of the bills collected, 7% contained serious pathogenic bacteria, 86% carried ordinary bacteria and 7% were clean. Thirty years ago, the American Medical Association reported that 42% of notes and 13% of coins were contaminated by dangerous fecal germs such as E. coli and staphylococcus.

The article concluded that while there is no direct evidence handling money makes people sick, those working in banks or other places where cash is constantly handled are at increased risk. This supports the idea that hand washing is one of the best defences against SARS and other diseases.

In Japan, ATMs heat notes to 200C (392F) before dispensing them. The heat kills pathogens but doesn't burn the cash.

I don't know if Hong Kong banks do something similar, but cash from machines here doesn't seem hot.

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