Microbiologists agree that most ATMs are just as dirty as your average toilet seat because of the sheer number of people who touch them on a regular basis.
Recently a team of researchers took samples from a number of buttons on various ATMs in high-traffic areas to see just how dirty they were and the results were somewhat amazing not to mention disturbing.
These samples were compared with those off toilet seats in the same kind of high-traffic areas to see how they stack up together. While it is true that no such study has been done for ATMs in places like New York, it is still indicative of what they might be like.
Many of the buttons in the study contained what are called psuedomonads as well as bacillus, a type of bacteria which is able to cause serious problems with the stomach.
One of the most common carriers of bacteria are purses that women carry around with them, spreading them onto the ATMs which they touch to get money out.
This recent study has revealed just how dirty the things that thousands of people touch each day and what could happen as a result in terms of getting sick or worse.