That money can give you cholera
Aug 09, 2005
“Money is like muck,†the British philosopher Francis Bacon said hundreds of years ago. And that was an accurate description of the money we use today. Health experts have labelled it breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.
By Thomas Pere
“Money is like muck,†the British philosopher Francis Bacon said hundreds of years ago. And that was an accurate description of the money we use today. Health experts have labelled it breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.
I once found a telephone operator picking her nose with a folded shs5000 note. That opened my eyes to how some people clean their charcoal coated hands with money; others keep it in their socks/shoes, while others handle it with work-soiled hands; fish and meat dealers, sewage and latrine attendants as well as mechanics and painters.
But most people are not bothered. They count the dirty money, repeatedly licking the same finger they use for counting. Then some go right ahead to eat food, snacks or grains without washing their hands.
Elsewhere, some kids, playing with coins suck at them as others chew on the notes. When the kid spits out the coin later, it comes out thoroughly cleaned and shinning. Where does all the dirt go?
In the bowel system, says Dr. Joshua Bagumirwe of Hope Clinic, Entebbe Road. “Although the alimentary canal has protective mechanisms, the germs we pick from money may infect the body,†he says. “They include diarrhoeal diseases (cholera, dysentery), worms (amoebas) bowel irritations and viral infections,†he adds.
That means our wallets and purses are barracks for bacteria. The Wright Patterson Medical Centre in Ohio, US, conducted a survey for the department of endocrinology. They collected 68 one-dollar notes from a high school and a grocery store and examined them for bacterial contamination.
Five of the 68 bills had bacteria that commonly cause infections in healthy persons, such as staphylococcus aureus and klebstella pneumoniae. 59 bills were contaminated with bacteria that cause significant infections in patients with depressed immune system. These included coagulase-negative staphylococcus, alpha hemolytic streptococcus and escherichia vulneris. Apparently we are carrying around more than we think.
And Uganda hasn’t caught up with credit card transactions of developed countries, meaning that the cash movement and its effects are spread wider.
Dr. Ogen Muulo, a skin specialist at the Tropical Clinic, Entebbe says there are various types of skin conditions spread through close contact. Women who keep money in their bras or panties and men in socks are exposing themselves to skin diseases like scabies, ringworms and fungal infections.
Sam Katwere, acting director of the public relations department, Bank of Uganda says the problem is rooted in poverty. “The Ugandan culture of keeping money is bad. Bank of Uganda would like to have a clean money regime but the problem is Uganda is a cash economy. Banks are supposed to bring the money here daily so that the bad notes can be sorted out, but they do not. Instead, they lend out the deposits of the day to customers withdrawing. So the more it exchanges hands the more it is mutilated,†he says.
Katwere warns people who lick their fingers while counting the money that the printing inks have chemicals that can be harmful to the body.
Dr. Tom Mwebasa, Environmental Health Scientist, says money, being paper, is subject to contamination. The Makerere University Institute of Public Health don however believes the contamination is mainly physical from dirt and rarely from micro-organisms.
“Nevertheless, people who use saliva to count their money could be contaminating themselves — just in case there is micro-organisms contamination,†he said.
Ends
“Money is like muck,†the British philosopher Francis Bacon said hundreds of years ago. And that was an accurate description of the money we use today. Health experts have labelled it breeding ground for bacteria and viruses.
I once found a telephone operator picking her nose with a folded shs5000 note. That opened my eyes to how some people clean their charcoal coated hands with money; others keep it in their socks/shoes, while others handle it with work-soiled hands; fish and meat dealers, sewage and latrine attendants as well as mechanics and painters.
But most people are not bothered. They count the dirty money, repeatedly licking the same finger they use for counting. Then some go right ahead to eat food, snacks or grains without washing their hands.
Elsewhere, some kids, playing with coins suck at them as others chew on the notes. When the kid spits out the coin later, it comes out thoroughly cleaned and shinning. Where does all the dirt go?
In the bowel system, says Dr. Joshua Bagumirwe of Hope Clinic, Entebbe Road. “Although the alimentary canal has protective mechanisms, the germs we pick from money may infect the body,†he says. “They include diarrhoeal diseases (cholera, dysentery), worms (amoebas) bowel irritations and viral infections,†he adds.
That means our wallets and purses are barracks for bacteria. The Wright Patterson Medical Centre in Ohio, US, conducted a survey for the department of endocrinology. They collected 68 one-dollar notes from a high school and a grocery store and examined them for bacterial contamination.
Five of the 68 bills had bacteria that commonly cause infections in healthy persons, such as staphylococcus aureus and klebstella pneumoniae. 59 bills were contaminated with bacteria that cause significant infections in patients with depressed immune system. These included coagulase-negative staphylococcus, alpha hemolytic streptococcus and escherichia vulneris. Apparently we are carrying around more than we think.
And Uganda hasn’t caught up with credit card transactions of developed countries, meaning that the cash movement and its effects are spread wider.
Dr. Ogen Muulo, a skin specialist at the Tropical Clinic, Entebbe says there are various types of skin conditions spread through close contact. Women who keep money in their bras or panties and men in socks are exposing themselves to skin diseases like scabies, ringworms and fungal infections.
Sam Katwere, acting director of the public relations department, Bank of Uganda says the problem is rooted in poverty. “The Ugandan culture of keeping money is bad. Bank of Uganda would like to have a clean money regime but the problem is Uganda is a cash economy. Banks are supposed to bring the money here daily so that the bad notes can be sorted out, but they do not. Instead, they lend out the deposits of the day to customers withdrawing. So the more it exchanges hands the more it is mutilated,†he says.
Katwere warns people who lick their fingers while counting the money that the printing inks have chemicals that can be harmful to the body.
Dr. Tom Mwebasa, Environmental Health Scientist, says money, being paper, is subject to contamination. The Makerere University Institute of Public Health don however believes the contamination is mainly physical from dirt and rarely from micro-organisms.
“Nevertheless, people who use saliva to count their money could be contaminating themselves — just in case there is micro-organisms contamination,†he said.
Ends