Filthy Lucre- it's a scientific fact

I am sure that you, like me, may have pondered how many souls, before us, have handled the notes and coins in our pockets, wallets or purses.

There can be clues.

I have had Fivers with columns of inked-on figures likely to have been from a shop trader tallying up the contents of his cash register at the end of the day. Sometimes a Tenner may have a hastily scrawled telephone number from a brief contact or liaison. Various bits of loose change have been well worn from passing through a multitude of human hands or have scars and chunks taken out of them from popular misuse. Coins and paper money can also be thrust into trouser pockets and exposed to a further level of germs and pathogens.

Not that I have ever frequented the likes of a Lap Dancing Club but I am led to believe that a wad of grubby notes can be wicked away quite easily in knicker elastic and brassiere straps.

Given the potential for transmission of bacteria through everyday money transactions I was interested to see a 2012 Academic Study on this very subject.

This piece of investigation formed a submission to the Journal "Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control" attributed to Gedik et al.

The Research which used banknotes from a number of countries was on a strictly controlled laboratory basis in order to eliminate any potential influences from climate and hygiene which may otherwise be present.

It was thought in setting up the lab experiment that general hygiene levels on a country to country basis would certainly contribute to levels of microbes.

The currencies selected were from mainstream economies and some lesser ones and comprised the Euro, Canadian and US Dollars, The Romainian Leu, Moroccan Dirham, Indian Rupee and Croatian Kuna.

Sample notes were thoroughly cleaned and sterilised and after a long drying out period were inoculated with strains of staphylococcus, E-coli, resistant strains of Enterococci and MRSA.

The volunteers in the lab were similarly subjected to cleansing before being given the bank notes to handle in a normal way as in a simple daily transaction over the counter.

Just by way of background to the composition of Bank notes they are not like most printing paper. This is down to the fundamental requirement for durability not just in everyday multi-person handling but in such circumstances as the regular accidental insertion into a washing machine.

The traditional recipe for a sturdy banknote is reinforced paper with cotton fibre, linen, abora wood and other textile fibres and also polyvinyl alcohol and gelatin.

There has been a gradual move towards polymer (plastic) notes.

I first came across these in Australia in 2008 and although first brought out in the UK in 2000 in Northern Ireland they are a relatively new phenomena on the mainland.

The plastic does have better durability and can also carry improved anti-counterfeiting measures.

I have not put one yet through the 60 degree wash cycle for that particular test.

In the final reckoning of the Bacterial Research the worst offender for not only the transmission but also the growth of nasties was the Romanian Leu.

There were varying and quite inconsistent results for the other currencies.

Canadian and US Dollars could be responsible for the spread of MRSA amongst their communities.

The Euro allowed E-Coli to thrive for 6 hours but with none of the sample volunteers contracting the strain. 

The Rupee and Dirham results were not officially cited but with a clean bill of health completely for the Croatian Kuna.

The use of the polymer banknotes may be seen as the future of currency in circulation but with the proviso that the specific mix in the Romanian Leu, a polymer and not conventional paper, needed some strong scrutiny to find out why it could be more of a hazard to the population.

Inspired by a 2019 Ignobel Award Winner