A realistic transfer method reveals low risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission via contaminated euro coins and banknotes
Todt, Daniel; Meister, Toni Luise; Tamele, Barbora; Howes, John; Paulmann, Dajana; Becker, Britta; Brill, Florian H.; Wind, Mark; Schijven, Jack; Heinen, Natalie; Kinast, Volker; Mhlekude, Baxolele; Goffinet, Christine; Krawczyk, Adalbert; Steinmann, Jörg; Pfaender, Stephanie; Brüggemann, Yannick; Steinmann, Eike
(2021) iScience, volume 24, issue 8, pp. 1 - 16
(Article)
Abstract
The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has created a significant threat to global health. While respiratory aerosols or droplets are considered as the main route of human-to-human transmission, secretions expelled by infected individuals can also contaminate surfaces and objects, potentially creating the risk of fomite-based transmission.
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Consequently, frequently touched objects such as paper currency and coins have been suspected as potential transmission vehicle. To assess the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission by banknotes and coins, we examined the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and bovine coronavirus, as surrogate with lower biosafety restrictions, on these different means of payment and developed a touch transfer method to examine transfer efficiency from contaminated surfaces to fingertips. Although we observed prolonged virus stability, our results indicate that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via contaminated coins and banknotes is unlikely and requires high viral loads and a timely order of specific events.
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Keywords: Methodology in biological sciences, Microbiology, Virology, General
ISSN: 2589-0042
Publisher: Elsevier
Note: Funding Information: We thank Victor M Corman and Terry C Jones from Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany for sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 strain used in this study. We thank Thorsten Wolff, Jessica Schulz, and Christian Mache from the Robert-Koch Institute (Fachbereich 17) for providing the B.1.1.7 isolate (alpha variant) and René Scholtysik of University Hospital Essen for establishing the PCR for virus variant determination. Moreover, we would like to thank all members of the Department of Molecular & Medical Virology at the Ruhr University Bochum for support and fruitful discussion. E.S. was supported by the VIRus ALliance NRW (VIRAL) from Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (323-8.03-151826) This study was in parts financed by the European Central Bank . Funding Information: We thank Victor M Corman and Terry C Jones from Charit? Universit?tsmedizin Berlin, Germany for sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 strain used in this study. We thank Thorsten Wolff, Jessica Schulz, and Christian Mache from the Robert-Koch Institute (Fachbereich 17) for providing the B.1.1.7 isolate (alpha variant) and Ren? Scholtysik of University Hospital Essen for establishing the PCR for virus variant determination. Moreover, we would like to thank all members of the Department of Molecular & Medical Virology at the Ruhr University Bochum for support and fruitful discussion. E.S. was supported by the VIRus ALliance NRW (VIRAL) from Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (323-8.03-151826) This study was in parts financed by the European Central Bank. Conceptualization, D.T. B.T. J.H. F.H.B. J.S.T. S.P. E.S; data curation, D.T. T.L.M. D.P. B.B. M.W. J.S; formal analysis, D.T. and J.S; funding acquisition, B.T. J.H. and E.S; investigation, T.L.M. D.P. B.B. N.H. V.K. and B.M.; methodology, D.T. F.H.B. S.P. and E.S; project administration, B.T, J.H. F.H.B. and E.S; resources, F.H.B. B.M. C.G. A.K. J.S.T. S.P. and E.S. validation, D.T. T.L.M. D.P. B.B. F.H.B. M.W. J.S. and E.S; visualization, D.T. and Y.B; writing ? original draft, D.T. Y.B. S.P. and E.S; writing ? review & editing, all authors. D.T. receives consulting fees from the European Central Bank. E.S. receives consulting fees from the European Central Bank and is a member of the scientific advisory board of Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH. F.H.B. is executive partner of Dr. Brill + Partner GmbH. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s)
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