dirty money

"don't lick your fingers while counting cash in india. soiled rupee notes are breeding grounds for the bugs that cause tonsillitus, pneumonia, & TB, say scientists at the regional sophisticated instrumentation centre in shillong. 'the risk is serious. these notes are potential killers.' the problem is worst in north-eastern india."
condensed from new scientist 11/5/02

Interesting post Abraxus. Can't figure out why the North-East is a special hazard. Is it because people have less hygenic habits, are there more diseases rampant or do banknotes get replaced less often?

Anyway, I've been there twice in the last 3 years and stayed completely healthy.
On the hazard list for travelling in India I would place this well below

1. Dodgy water.
2. Dodgy food.
3. Mosquitoes.
4. Travelling in crowded buses and trains.
5. Exchanging bodily fluids.
6. Staying in crowded conditions with other backpackers e. g. dodgy ashrams.

I always thought there were only 2 problems with money--having too little or too much of it!

Healthy travelling

in the full article it's a little clearer (i would've posted a link but i got the mag too late & it was archived- the nice folks at new scientist require you to subscribe or be an achademic to access their archive, so appologies for my laziness)
apparently the notes are in circulation alot longer in the n.east, & the practice of sticky taping them makes them even more germ friendly.
if you caught something like pneumonia, how would you know if you caught it in some crowded hostel, or from a careless lick ov the thumb as you count your cash?- some on LpTT expressed horror at the very thought ov this practice, but it's something i do w/out thinking at home- which was the main reason for posting- i'm sure there are riskier things, but i(being somewhat dumb) hadn't made a connection; which leads to another interesting post on LpTT ,in answer to this post, from midnite toker quoting Freud's thoughts on the connection between money & development in the anal stage. insightful.

I regularly peruse the New Scientist online but missed this one. The last article relating to India I saw was how smog may "protect" India from overheating due to global warming.

On the dirty money story, though, it leads me to wonder about many of the railway station platform food vendors I've bought from: takes money-scoops samosas-puts into bag. Handling money all the time as they do, giving and receiving with the right hand, you suspect that many vendors would be a prime source of food contamination. It makes me want to take an extra minute (if the train will wait!) next time I'm in that situation, check if there is a direct hand contact between food and notes at any point.

You could get technical and dust the notes you give with fluorescent powder, and then return to the same pakora wallah next day and shine a UV light all over his barrow to check for contamination - but who would want to overnight in Itarsi, Ratlam or Erode just for scientific completeness?

Hhhmmm...it is interesting...never think about it...good point Abraxus!!!!
Regards
iasis

Possible explanation for different germ content in different parts : air humidity. Microorganisms will grow faster in a humid environment (like the angrezis sweaty moneybelts for example).