When I was a kid, my parents told me that everyday items are always filled with bacteria, such as banknotes, tabletops, keyboards, smartphones, floor (pick up your fallen food within 5 seconds or it will be infected with bacteria), I grew up told there are millions of bacteria under the fingernails all the time, is this really true? How can they be always there and survive that long if they are on the floor, banknotes etc.? They are living organisms, need to eat something, right? For my thinking there is nothing to eat on the banknotes normally. Can anyone bust this myth or confirm? Thanks in advance.
In: Biology
Bacteria and fungi, or their spores, pretty much cover every surface and grow into every nook and cranny. They are a natural part of the environment, and very few are pathogenic.
Microbes absorb what they can from their environment, even when that’s waste from other microbes. If they are starved for food or water, sometimes they go dormant and wake when food or water become available.
With regards to banknotes, they are typically made with natural fibers that are nutritive, they have oils transferred from hands touching them, and a variety of trace amounts of other nutritive organic materials as they get handled and exposed to the environment.
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