CNA Made a Video Showing How Dirty Money Can Be & It Has Gone Viral

Everybody loves money.

It’s something we work our butts off to get, it’s something that we can’t live without.

As the Chinese say, “there’s no problem that we can’t solve with money”.

I can’t say that for myself, I’m still broke and is 24/7 worrying if I have enough lunch money to last through the week.

In another episode of Why It Matters, we learn more about the Sing Dollar. Not the beauty of it, but rather the dark and disgusting side.

As the world’s third richest country, there is more money exchanging hands in Singapore these days.

According to Channel News Asia, a study published earlier this year found as much as 3,000 types of bacteria on US$1 notes.

United States notes are made of cotton and linen. These materials facilitate bacterial growth.

Singapore’s notes are made of polymer, which absorbs fewer bacteria.

300 samples of bank notes were sent to labs to be tested out.

Mind you, the results are alarming.

As dirty as toilet seats & shoe soles

Some notes were found to contain as much bacteria as found on the soles of our shoes (ewww) as well as on toilet seats!

say whaaaat

The number of bacteria found is related to where the money was collected from.

These places include: Hawker centres, hospitals, supermarkets and wet markets across the island.

All sources are spaced out from each other.

The testing was done by microbiologists from testing service provider ALS Singapore.

For comparison purposes, banknotes ranging from $2 to $50 were withdrawn from ATMs.

The results showed that money from the wet markets had the highest bacteria count.

There was an average of 48,000 on each note, almost 1,000 times more bacteria than the $50 and $10 notes from the ATMs.

Here are some of the other bacterial count per note:

Hawker centres:3,500

Hospitals：1,000

Supermarkets:120

Other DNAs

An additional analysis was done on a $10 note to find out what DNA was left on it.

There were found to be traces of animals like cattle, dog, fish, pig and sheep, besides human DNA and a lot of bacteria.

So basically we may be hi-fiving some animals whenever we touch money.

Nice

How bacteria grow on money

As we all know, all bacteria need water to grow.

The best condition to grow would be somewhere warm, moist and dark.

If you keep a wet note (probably from the wet market) into your wallet, your body heat may transfer onto the note, hence creating the best environment for bacteria to thrive.

How harmful are the bacteria

One of the bacteria identified, E. Coli, is already found in the human body. Certain strains can even cause severe diarrhoea!

The bacteria that you should look out for the most would be the staphylococcus.

It is known to cause meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain) and can result to deaths.

It can enter your body through the rubbing of your eyes or by using your dirty hands to eat.

But not to worry if you have a functional immune system and digestive tract, according to doctors.

Just wash your hands after touching money and before you eat lah.

Better to be safe than sorry!

Since you’re here, why not watch a video about an NTU student who went all out to impress his crush, only to end up in…tragedy? Here, watch it and do remember to share it (and also subscribe to Goody Feed YouTube channel)!