Dirty notes give bank staffers cash allergy'

Kurnool: The demonetisation of currency has led to a very different set of problems for bankers – cash allergy.

Many staffer, who have been counting huge amounts of currency since the the demonetisation for the past one week, have been suffering from allergies and breathing problems besides rashes on their fingers.

Though cash counting machines have been used, prolonged exposure to dust from the bundles is leading to these problems, said a branch manager of a nationalised bank. A manager of Indian Bank told DC that she had developed rashes. As the entire staff of banks has been asked to start handling cash, senior officials who have lost touch with counting operations remain the worst affected.

An SBI staffer added: “We have forgotten to count cash as machines have been installed. But due to the surge in cash transactions, we are forced to do manual counting too. Our fingers are sore, wrists are aching and the overall feeling is ‘awful’.” Money is dirty, confirmed another banker.

According to a study conducted by Mr P.K. Elumalai, Mr E. David and Mr Hemachandran on “bacterial contamination of Indian currency notes”, it has been found that the circulation of paper currency from one individual to another spreads microorganisms. If these notes are contaminated by pathogenic bacteria, the rate of infectious diseases will continue to rise.

In a test on small denomination notes procured from vegetable vendors, it was found that the culture from the collected Indian notes yielded 21 isolates representing eight different types of bacterial species viz. E. coli, Proteus mirabilis, Vibrio sp., S. aureus, Pseuodomonas sp., Salmonella sp., Bacillus sp., and Klebsiella sp.