We all know Chinese money can be kind of grubby, but who knew you could get a disease from it? Two bank tellers in Wenzhou have caught sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) just from being in contact with paper money, making it a serious risk for anyone who counts money for a living (or just plain comes into contact with it, which is most of us).

A gynecologist at the Wenzhou City People’s Hospital concluded that a 30 year-old patient named Ah Li (pseudonym) must have been indirectly infected with genital warts from her job as a bank teller. The doctor reasoned that Ah Li caught the disease by going to the bathroom without first washing her hands after having counted large sums of cash. All other possibilities of transmission were ruled out when Ah Li said she had no sexual contact with anyone except for her fiance, who was shown to be disease-free from a subsequent hospital checkup.

Dr Li Feifei, another doctor at Wenzhou Hospital, said this was not the only time somebody caught an STD from money. Dr Li described a former patient named Xiaole (pseudonym), a 20-something woman who contracted an STD even though she says she had no prior sexual experience whatsoever. Dr Li said Xiaole also worked as a bank teller in Wenzhou, and so concluded she also must have also contracted the STD from counting money.

As crazy as these stories sound, similar cases have been reported before. In 2005, doctors determined a company cashier named Li Jia, who had never had a boyfriend, got gonorrhea from paper money. In 2004, a 19 year-old company cashier named Guo Jihong in Changchun became infected with genital warts even though she said she never had a boyfriend. She, too, handled large sums of money. “I can’t go to work, and I can’t go home. I always think about killing myself,” she said at the time.

With so many news stories of catching venereal diseases from touching money, the Chinese media has tried to set the record straight. Sohu, for instance, published an article in 2004 to douse fears of the easy spread of STDs:

 

Of course, it is entirely possible that sexually-transmitted diseases can be spread through indirect contact, but it isn’t through money as the media is reporting. Instead, it is through public baths, wet towels, toilets, and from long-term intimate contact with an infected person.

Two years later, Sina published a story quoting Shen Huiguang, director of research of male sexually-transmitted diseases at the Fuzhou No. 2 Hospital, saying the transmission of sexual diseases through contact with paper money is possible, but highly unlikely. Shen admitted paper money can be filthy with bacteria, but that diseases transmitted from touching money are more likely to be hepatitis A and dysentery.

Western authorities on sexually-transmitted diseases say transmission of STDs from contact with toilet seats, hot tubs, and swimming pools is extremely rare, and requires direct contact on skin with open wounds. Many Western experts don’t regard the possibility of contracting a STD from touching money as common.

This isn’t the case in China, where according to clinical studies from 2002, 10 percent of all STDs are transmitted from contact with money10 percent of all STDs are transmitted from contact with money. Whatever the case, the one takeaway that is unanimous from the recent news is that the Chinese media is urging the public to wash their hands, even including detailed descriptions on how to do it properly.

With all this in mind, here’s the latest viral sensation to hit the Chinese internet for you to enjoy in context: a Chinese woman performing a novel way of counting money.