Do you have a habit of keeping currency notes in your pocket? If so, you would want to think about it again. According to researchers, currency notes carry dozens of micro-organisms that can cause diseases and infections, including tuberculosis, ulcers and dysentery.
In a study published in Frontiers in Microbiology, researchers from the University of Hong Kong have found that 50 per cent of all environmental bacteria can be found on banknotes. To investigate how microbes are passed between humans and how antibiotic resistance can be spread around the world, a team led by Dr Li Jun scraped bacteria from the surface of banknotes collected from hospitals and metro stations around Hong Kong in areas of varying population density.
Despite doubt as to whether microbes can even survive on banknotes, the researchers found that the banknotes offer an environment that can, indeed, accommodate living bacteria. Over one third of the bacteria identified on the banknotes consisted of potentially pathogenic species, including potentially lethal bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Vibrio cholera.
Second thing is mobile. Blue light from cell phone transforms vital molecules in the eye’s retina into cell killers, according to optical chemistry research at The University of Toledo.
Macular degeneration, an incurable eye disease that results in significant vision loss starting on average in a person’s 50s or 60s, is the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need molecules called retinal to sense light and trigger a cascade of signaling to the brain.
Researchers say that no activity is sparked with green, yellow or red light while blue light has a very short wavelength relative to other visible lights, so it produces a higher amount of energy. Exposure to blue light causes a particular molecule in the eye to produce poisonous chemical molecules that affect light-sensitive cells
To protect your eyes from blue light, it is advised to wear sunglasses that can filter both UV and blue light outside and avoid looking at your cell phones or tablets in the dark.
And the last thing is ‘commode’ which is used by everyone. Some squat rather than sit on the seat, or disinfect the toilet seat before use, all to avoid catching something.
Toilet seats are a hotbed for bacteria and viruses; there is no question about it. According to Dr Ben Lam, resident physician at Raffles Medical Hong Kong, streptococcus and staphylococcus are two kinds of bacteria that can be found on toilet seats. The first can cause throat infection and impetigo, a skin infection that usually affects children. The second can cause skin infections including boils, impetigo and cellulitis, which appears as a swollen, red area of skin that feels hot and tender.
Viruses such as common cold viruses, the hepatitis A virus, and various sexually transmitted organisms can be found on toilet seats as well.
Fortunately for us, many of these micro-organisms only survive on the surface of a toilet seat for a very short period of time. In addition, our skin, and our urethral and genital tract mucosa are good barriers, preventing bacteria and viruses from entering our body. The risk, therefore, of these organisms being transferred from the toilet seat and making us ill is minimal. The presence of a wound on the skin may increase one’s risk of contracting a disease, but only slightly.
