THE HEALTH EFFECT OF HANDLING PAPER NOTES
By Chikwe Gift.
Paper money is a country's official paper currency that is circulated for transaction-related purposes of goods and services.
Paper money are made from cotton paper which are sometimes mixed with linen, important documents are printed on cotton paper because they last many years without deterioration; hence the use of cotton paper to make paper notes.
According to recent studies, money could be a means through which germs and other bacteria can be transmitted from one person to another .The daily transactions have made the paper currency to pass through many hands and pathogens become imbedded imn them.
The key transmission route with the paper currency is contact. Studies show that microorganisms survive on hands after transfer of paper currency for about 5mins.
Ways Paper Currency Get Contaminated.
* Prolonged exposure of paper currency to water or other liquid .
* Exposure of paper currency to blood, urine, feaces or any other bodily fluid ,including removal from any body cavity, especially in hospitals.
* Exposure of paper currency to chemicals including dye packs.
According to Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 87% of paper notes contained bacteria pathogenic to hospitalized or immune compromised individuals, and most common pathogens include Staph. aureus, Enterococcal organisms including E. coli.
Germs are tiny living organisms that causes diseases, we do not see them with our bare eyes and thus they could easily survive on paper currency and exchange hands thus infecting other people through these various means ;
* Banknotes recovered from hospital may be highly contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.
* Market women and traders handle money in various ways that contaminate the money. A visit to the market centres in the country will reveal market women who sell fish and other substances with some amount of liquid on them, exchanging their commodities for money with the same hands with which they used to fetch the commodity.
* Drivers and Conductors also take money from passengers and pass them to other passengers with dirty hands, because they sometimes have to help passengers carry their belongings from the floor to the bus, especially when it's raining.
* Ready-To-Eat food sellers also serve food and handle the paper currency as the sell, making the notes dirty and cross-contaminated.
* In Business/ Computer Centres, different individual use a particular computer, and some individuals eat their snack with the same hand with which they hold the mouse without washing, thereby contacting bacteria from the mouse which have been infected.
*Washing our hands with soap and water, especially when we want to eat.
*Eating with cutlery may go a long way to prevent these germs, since we might not wash our hands properly clean .
*The replacement of banknotes from paper to plastic polymer, as polymer-based banknotes have a relatively low bacterial count, compared to the cotton-based paper banknotes .
*People should resort to using wallets and purses more.
*The use of mobile money and cashless system of transacting business such as POS, online banking should be encouraged so as to reduce the contamination of money .
For more info click here
Paper money is a country's official paper currency that is circulated for transaction-related purposes of goods and services.
Paper money are made from cotton paper which are sometimes mixed with linen, important documents are printed on cotton paper because they last many years without deterioration; hence the use of cotton paper to make paper notes.
According to recent studies, money could be a means through which germs and other bacteria can be transmitted from one person to another .The daily transactions have made the paper currency to pass through many hands and pathogens become imbedded imn them.
The key transmission route with the paper currency is contact. Studies show that microorganisms survive on hands after transfer of paper currency for about 5mins.
Ways Paper Currency Get Contaminated.
* Prolonged exposure of paper currency to water or other liquid .
* Exposure of paper currency to blood, urine, feaces or any other bodily fluid ,including removal from any body cavity, especially in hospitals.
* Exposure of paper currency to chemicals including dye packs.
According to Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 87% of paper notes contained bacteria pathogenic to hospitalized or immune compromised individuals, and most common pathogens include Staph. aureus, Enterococcal organisms including E. coli.
Germs are tiny living organisms that causes diseases, we do not see them with our bare eyes and thus they could easily survive on paper currency and exchange hands thus infecting other people through these various means ;
* Banknotes recovered from hospital may be highly contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus.
* Market women and traders handle money in various ways that contaminate the money. A visit to the market centres in the country will reveal market women who sell fish and other substances with some amount of liquid on them, exchanging their commodities for money with the same hands with which they used to fetch the commodity.
* Drivers and Conductors also take money from passengers and pass them to other passengers with dirty hands, because they sometimes have to help passengers carry their belongings from the floor to the bus, especially when it's raining.
* Ready-To-Eat food sellers also serve food and handle the paper currency as the sell, making the notes dirty and cross-contaminated.
* In Business/ Computer Centres, different individual use a particular computer, and some individuals eat their snack with the same hand with which they hold the mouse without washing, thereby contacting bacteria from the mouse which have been infected.
PREVENTIVE MEASURES ON HANDLING PAPER CURRENCY
*Washing our hands with soap and water, especially when we want to eat.
*Eating with cutlery may go a long way to prevent these germs, since we might not wash our hands properly clean .
*The replacement of banknotes from paper to plastic polymer, as polymer-based banknotes have a relatively low bacterial count, compared to the cotton-based paper banknotes .
*People should resort to using wallets and purses more.
*The use of mobile money and cashless system of transacting business such as POS, online banking should be encouraged so as to reduce the contamination of money .
For more info click here
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