The Average Banknote Contains 26,000 Bacteria; Studies Have Shown

If you thought dirty money was only found in offshore bank accounts, check your wallet instead. But you may want to wash your hands afterward.
Almost 60% of Europeans believe cash is the dirtiest item they come into contact with, ahead of escalator handrails, b*ttons on payment terminals and library books, according to a survey of 1,000 people released on March 25 by Mastercard.

A further 83% of the respondents, taken from 15 countries across Europe, believe cash carries a lot of bacteria. And they are right.
Independent tests on European money conducted by a team of scientists at Oxford University in December 2012, revealed that the average banknote contains 26,000 bacteria, enough germs to make you feel nauseous, and possibly even spread disease.
“Europeans’ perceptions of dirty cash are not without reason,” Ian Thompson, the professor from Oxford University who tested the cash, said in a news release. “The bank notes we tested harboured an average of 26,000 bacteria, which, for a number of pathogenic organisms, is sufficient for passing on infection.”
Even the newest, and therefore cleanest, notes tested contained 2,400 bacteria, with Swiss Francs and Danish Krone the dirtiest money of all.
“(The bacteria) comes from multiple hands,” Hany Fam from Mastercard told CNN’s Richard Quest. “These notes have a long time in circulation, they’re handed, hand to hand, from different individuals and it’s inevitable that germs accumulate on them.”