I needed cash for something, so I got change at a grocery store. The cashier who gave me the paper money said that she has had a cold for a few days. I know she probably isn't contagious anymore, but it started me thinking, since bacteria and viruses can remain alive on paper money for 48 hours or longer, and other people have probably handled that money recently.
How can I sanitize paper money during the cold and flu season?
You can iron paper bills, like the American ones, on rather high heat. Just the same iron you use for your clothing, at the hottest setting, but no steam. It will kill all viruses.
Plastic bills can be hand washed, with the same soap you would use on your hand, you can dry them the same way you dry your hands, with a clean cloth or even the hot air dryer you use for your hands. Or you can let them air dry.
These bills can withstand some heat but I have heard not enough to iron them clean.
You can't effectively sanitize paper which is a kind of plasticized textile; but, you can quarantine money (use your wallet and the same pocket) then use hand sanitizer after handling it.
Recent tests indicate that using hand sanitizer is as effective as thorough hand-washing, if not better.
Keep your hands away from your face and practice other forms of asepsis to avoid infecting yourself from common sources of flu virus and bacteria. Door handles and push plates, faucet handles, computer keyboards, telephone handsets, credit card terminals, and shared pens at financial transactions are common ones.
Gezundheit ! !
Update: When cleaning polymer (plastic) currency, boiling the currency in water will not change the characteristics in any meaningful way. The currency will withstand 266°F without issue.
In a lot, if not most, countries money bills are made out of plastic or cotton. You can wash those with water and detergent or even in a washing machine (although I do not recommend a program with a spin cycle).
Some currencies with cotton or plastic bills:
For natural fiber bills (American money is cotton/linen, for instance) you could bake the bills in an oven. A half hour at 250 F (appr. 120 C) should be sufficient, and isn't hot enough to damage the material. I'd reserve this for $5 and smaller, just in case the heat is enough to damage the ID thread in larger bills, or test with a $10 before cooking a stack of $100s -- but this level of heat should denature viruses and will kill any bacterial pathogen (some extremophile bacteria live in hotter temperatures, but they aren't pathogens).
This method will also work for coins, of course, even the ones with an aluminum ring around a bronze center.
I don't know what plastic is used for bills in other countries -- it might or might not survive this temperature.
Bacteria and Viruses live around you and are on the surfaces of everything you touch.
I'd recommend that you deal with this reality and let your skin and (hopefully) functioning immune system do its work while washing your hands with soap and water when appropriate. Alternatively, you can live in fear and spiral into a hypochondriac.
One option I came up with overnight is to leave the bills in direct sunlight. The light kills bacteria in household dust, so maybe it would work on paper money too. I haven't done any research into this; it's just an educated guess. I'm curious whether this will get upvotes, or downvotes, and comments.
Perhaps spray both sides lightly with Lysol and hang with clothes pins on a wire clothes hanger to dry? Just a thought!
Good Luck!
Best Regards,
Judy
This is not a answer to your question, but what you can do is:
1) Get a bottle of hand sanitizer and put it by where you're handling money.
2) Wash your hands frequently, basically like a nurse who has to deal with money.
