3,000 Different Bacteria Live on U.S. Dollar Bills

NaturalNews

An analysis by New York University found 3,000 separate species of bacteria living on U.S. one-dollar bills, far more than had ever been detected in prior studies. Many of the species found are able to cause disease in humans, and many exhibited antibiotic resistance.

“It was quite amazing to us,” researcher Jane Carlton said. “We actually found that microbes grow on money.”

The unpublished study from New York University’s Dirty Money Project is the first ever comprehensive analysis of DNA collected from dollar bills. By analyzing DNA, the researchers were able to identify many more species than prior studies, which relied upon culturing live bacteria and then identifying them visually using microscopes.

The study may have significant public health implications, as experts grow increasingly concerned about disease transmission in a globalized world. Paper money is one of the most commonly transmitted items worldwide, making it a major potential disease vector.

“A body-temperature wallet is a petri dish,” said Philippe Etienne, managing director of Innovia Security Pty Ltd., which makes the paper used for currency in 23 separate countries.

“Spectrum of life”

Researchers collected DNA samples from 80 one-dollar bills acquired from a Manhattan bank. In total, they collected 1.2 billion DNA segments, which they sequenced and uploaded into a computerized database. The data took up 320 gigabytes of space, roughly equivalent to an entire library of medical texts.

“We were casting the broadest possible net,” researcher Steven Sullivan said.

About half the DNA collected came, unsurprisingly, from human beings. Other life forms represented included bacteria, viruses, fungi, plant pathogens, horses, dogs and even white rhino.

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