Could your credit card kill you?

Study: The plastic in credit cards can host, transmit diseases Did you ever fleetingly rest your credit card between your lips during checkout because your hands were full or the kids were acting up? After reading this, you'll never do that again. A new grant-based study, "Cash or Credit: Spreading the Wealth of Virulence Genes?" conducted by microbiology students at Florida's St. Petersburg College found that half of all credit cards sampled at local malls, stores and hospitals tested positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA. Paper currency scored even worse on the hygiene scale; six in 10 dollar bills tested contained traces of MRSA. It's the first known study to confirm what biologists...

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Dishing the dirt on the germs: Credit Cards

The average person harbors 150 species of bacteria – so it’s no surprise our hands are often filthier than our toilet seats. Some bacteria are harmless, some are even beneficial to our health, but others can cause serious illness. We touch some 300 different surfaces every half hour, then we touch our own faces around 18 times an hour. This makes it easy for germs to get into our mouths and noses, where they attack cells and make us feel unwell. Contact with everyday items such as the TV remote or light switches is thought to be the trigger for 65 per cent of colds, 50 per cent of diarrhoea cases and 50 to 80 per cent of food poisoning incidents. A STUDY found 80 per cent of bank notes and 78 per cent of credit cards had traces of bacteria...

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Germy credit cards like a 'dirty toilet bowl': study

Monday, October 15 was Global Handwashing Day, but a new study suggests maybe it's more than your hands you'll want to wash. UK researchers have found that one in 10 bank cards and one in seven bills were found to be contaminated with fecal matter. Announced Monday, the study is the latest to be carried out by researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London, alerting us to the fact we live in a cesspool of filth. The research team did get backing from Radox Handwash soap products, but nonetheless, the results do supply your gross-out du jour The team took bacterial samples from hands, credit cards, and currency in various formats from cities in the UK, including London, Birmingham,...

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Sanitize your hands and your credit cards often

With flu season gearing up and reminders about washing hands often, a new study has found there are even more sources where germs can thrive it turns out credit cards are an unlikely source of bacteria, according to a study from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Queen Mary, University of London. Researchers found that one in 10 credit cards were contaminated with fecal organisms. The study was done to raise awareness of Global Handwashing Day, which highlights the importance of washing your hands with soap before eating and after using the bathroom. Money Blue Book lists the five biggest reasons credit cards can carry germs: Flu germs remain alive on surfaces Germs thrive in conditions where you...

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MRSA found on 80 percent of dollar bills according to SPC study

A St. Petersburg College biological sciences professor and some of her students set out to discover how much, if any, “bad bacteria” is found on frequently handled fomites like paper money and credit cards. The preliminary findings from the study titled, “"Cash or Credit: Spreading the Wealth of Virulence Genes?", were released Monday. Shannon McQuaig, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Natural Sciences at St. Petersburg College spoke to the Infectious Disease Examiner Monday about the study and their preliminary findings. Dr. McQuaig and her students tested paper money and plastic currency for this “bad bacteria” using molecular techniques looking for various antibiotic resistance and virulence-associated...

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Five common objects dirtier than a toilet seat

The household toilet seat may be widely considered a bacterial breeding ground but there are many other seemingly benign everyday objects that are far dirtier and pose a greater health risk. Last week scientists at the University of Arizona found that mobile phones had more germs on them than toilet seats, because phones regularly come into close contact with users' hands and mouths and are rarely cleaned. But that’s not the only filthy thing you might have your hands on right now — here are a few more reasons to avoid touching anything. Cash and credit cards Obvious one here — the wads of cash in your wallet carry more germs than the average toilet seat, with some harboring E coli. Dr Ron Cutler, senior lecturer at the School of Biological...

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Posted in: antimicrobial,credit cards,E coli,fomite,fomites

Germs in your wallet can make you sick - tests prove it

Bio-Clean director Peter Guerin, conducted tests that show just how dirty money can be. Germs on money may be making unwary people sick - some notes are more than six times filthier than a public lavatory. But don't think swapping it for plastic will magically make the germs disappear. A Public Defender investigation of 10 Melbourne Australia shoppers' wallets found cash and credit cards could be potential hotbeds for bacteria.In the worst example, a $10 note recorded a contamination count of 63,556 - that's 6.4 times higher than the average count from similar tests on public lavatory seats throughout the city. A reading below 500 is considered acceptable.Credit and debit cards were generally cleaner, but one recorded a count...

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Posted in: credit cards,diarrhea,E.Coli,staphylococcus