Your cold hard cash could give you a cold—or worse. Recent research conducted by New York University’s Center for Genomics & System Biology identified roughly 3,000 types of bacteria on paper money, including germs that cause food poisoning, staph infections and pneumonia.
Touching a germy bill will not necessarily make you sick. Typically, a relatively large number of germs must enter the body to cause infection, and that usually does not occur when you handle money in normal ways—but there are exceptions. Example: A single norovirus virion (the infectious form of a virus) can cause infection.
The health risks from germ-covered money increase greatly when money is handled by someone who also handles food, such as a sandwich-shop worker or street-food vendor. This opens the door for germs to be transferred from money to the food we eat, allowing many more of the germs to enter the body.
Coins tend to harbor fewer germs than paper money because certain metals used in coins, including copper, nickel and zinc, naturally inhibit germ growth. Crisp, new bills tend to harbor fewer germs than old, worn ones because US paper money has antimicrobial properties that seem to diminish with time and usage.
What to do: Wash your hands or use a hand sanitizer as soon as possible after handling money. Choose a hand sanitizer with an alcohol percentage of 85% or higher—unlike most germs, the norovirus can survive 60% to 65% alcohol hand sanitizers.
