Dirty two-taka notes spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The overused and soiled two-taka notes have become a silent public health threat, as those contain huge third generation antibiotic-resistant bacteria, says a study, reports UNB.
According to the study, each old filthy two-taka note contains 180 to 200 crore bacteria most of which are antibiotic-resistant that might play a role in transmission of potentially harmful organisms in human body.
Dr Shahdat Hossain, associate professor of Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jahangirnagar University, revealed the findings following a three-month laboratory research on two-taka notes.
After randomly collecting two-taka notes from rickshaw-pullers, street vendors and grocery shops from Dhaka city, he and his associates found that all the two-taka notes were contaminated with bacteria, and most importantly they failed to kill the bacteria by third generation antibiotics such as cefixime, cephalexin and cephalosporin.
Laboratory tests were carried out at the university laboratory using standard microbiologic techniques.
A more complex study involving molecular biologic methods are underway.
However, this study highlighted the possibility that money can be a vehicle for rapid spread of bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas and other types that can pose serious infection risks in hospitalized or immune-compromised patients.
Two-taka notes are widely used and each is exchanged many times. Dhaka is the world”s most populated city. So, here it would be barely seen that one hasn”t used it, the study says.
Dr Shahdat who got gold medals from Bangladesh Academy of Science and Third World Academy of Science said, “What we should do with the dirtiest paper currency particularly with the TWO-TAKA notes? Isn”t the time for literal money laundering? The answer is, yes.”
The ”overused and soiled” currency can transmit serious infections. “Although the germs on money have the potentials to contaminate people, there are no documented cases that it has,” Dr Shahdat said.
Although the clinical significance of bacterial contamination of paper currency is unknown, transmission of resistant organisms from person to person could cause a clinically significant infection, especially if an individual is hospitalized or has a weakened immune system.
The increased prevalence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics in Bangladesh might have a relation with the spread of resistance bacteria to its population.
Setting up of currency disinfection systems to reduce cross-infection and the spread of bacteria from contact currency may thus reduce the possibility of people becoming infected by the bacteria from currency in circulation.
In Japan or Australia, money pressed in ATM is passed between rollers for one-tenth of a second at 392 F, enough to kill many bacteria. Plastic currency appears to be inhospitable to germs.
Another option is to launder money-literally, like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which took emergency action in an effort to stop the spread of SARS.
Money is also sterilized by being placed under ultraviolet light for an hour. Or, coin which is very hard and dry could be carried as it is not terribly hospitable to bacteria, and many metals have antibacterial activity. Instead of avoiding or cleaning money, the best protection is to wash hands with soap regularly.
Experts said that the Bangladesh bank should be prompt about replacing worn-out, filthy notes with new paper money.

Courtesy of UNB via The News Today