Your Cash: Swine Flu Carrier?

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So here’s something I never saw coming when I came up with this blog’s tagline: Swine Flu may (or arguably should) impact our spending habits—or, more specifically, our cash spending habits. That’s right, just when people were starting to shy away from credit cards and (in some cases) use cash to better control their spending habits, Swine Flu comes in and mucks up everything. SmartMoney.com reports:

[T]here’s another way to protect yourself [from swine flu]—even if it’s not so good for the economy: Stop spending money.

… [P]aper currency—the dollars, fives, tens and twenties most people routinely touch every day—can spread a virus from one person to another. So if you have contact with money that an infected individual has also handled, there’s a possibility of catching the flu.

How likely is that? Despite the pervasiveness of cash in society, its role in transmitting illness has been the subject of surprisingly little study. But some recent research suggests that flu bugs can show some staying power when they land on one of the countless banknotes that change hands every day.

Generally speaking, scientists interviewed by SmartMoney estimate the lifetime of a plain flu virus deposited on money at an hour or so. But mix in some human nasal mucus, and the potential for the virus to hang on long enough to find a victim increases, according to one of the few scientific studies done on flu transmission through cash.

So what can you do if you’re worried about contracting swine flu and don’t want to wear gloves to handle cash? According to the scientists that SmartMoney spoke with, coins could be a safer bet since nickel and copper inhibit viruses. (Add that to your list of trivia to remember for your next Trivial Pursuit game.)

If carrying around a bunch of coins doesn’t appeal to you, credit cards are also fairly safe. (Presumably, far fewer people have touched your credit card than have touched your cash.) It’s still a good idea to wash your hands after using your credit card, though. “Viruses can still live on your plastic for up to an hour or so,” notes the article. So much for putting an end to over-dependence on credit cards. Swine flu: 1, Recession-inspired personal finance progress: 0.