The other side of money.
I always talk about it in a personal finance sort of way, but this is just as important and another reason to be obsessive about washing your hands. We touch money all of the time, and don’t think twice about it. But I just found this great article on MSN.ca…
Excerpt: “Filthy lucre? Dirty money? When you combine flu viruses and bank notes, maybe by HELEN BRANSWELL
June 20, 2007
TORONTO (CP) – The people who coined the terms filthy lucre and dirty money may have been on to something.
Swiss researchers have reported that influenza viruses can survive – alive and potentially infectious – on bank notes for up to 17 days in some cases.
It’s not known what portion of influenza transmission is due to the touching of contaminated surfaces with hands which then transport viruses to the vulnerable mucous membranes of the nose or mouth. And this study can’t answer that question.
But lead author Yves Thomas said Wednesday he believes the touching of contaminated surfaces plays a role in the spread of flu. And those contaminated surfaces can include folding money.
“When you see that the virus is still alive for several days, I can’t imagine that it does not infect. I’m sure that it can infect,” Thomas, a virologist at the Swiss National Centre for Influenza, said at a major international conference, Options for the Control of Influenza.
“It’s still alive. And it’s alive in quantities that can infect.”"
Read the rest of it here.
WASH YOUR HANDS. They all say, to wash your hands, 30 seconds each time (sing Twinkle Twinkle twice or Happy Birthday twice), with warm soapy water. It can be hard to wash for that long, but ever since I started washing my hands religiously, I have gotten less sniffly and sick.
After you’re done, top it off with a emollient hand cream to keep your hands soft and young.
