These images look like they could be photos of a plague epidemic - but in fact they show the shocking amounts of bacteria that grow on the money we handle every day.
University of Surrey science students took the photos of the bacteria which were living on the coins and notes they had on them.
The currency was submerged in agar, a substance that allows bacteria to grow quickly, and then monitored for three to four days.
The students found thousands of bacteria colonies living on their money.
After the experiment, the cash was washed and returned to the students, who were now aware of the vast amounts of bacteria they had been living in their pockets.
Dr Simon Park, a senior lecturer in molecular biology at the university, lead the study and said:"We wanted our undergraduates to get familiar with the fact we live in a bacteria world and bacteria is all around us, it's on anything we interact with."
Although most of the bacteria found on coins and notes is harmless, money has been known to carry dangerous diseases.
Dr Park, 51, said: "The most common types found are skin bacteria but money has also been shown to harbour MRSA and food poisoning bacteria in other related studies."
The most common type of bacteria they discovered living on our coinage was bacillus mycoides, which is harmless.
But the scientists did find cases of staphylococcus aureus, which can cause boils and spots on the skin. It is particularly dangerous to people whose immune systems may not be in peak condition, such as people in hospitals.
Around 20 per cent of us carry the bacteria in our nostrils so it is believed it ended up on the currency after someone picked their nose and then touched the money.
Dr Park added: "We found that money, be it coins or notes, harbours very large numbers of bacteria.
"It is something that we all share so it passes through many many different hands, washed and unwashed.
"It also gets kept in warm and moist pockets, which offer perfect conditions for bacterial growth and survival.
"Consequently, the populations of bacteria on currency are much larger and more diverse, and money is likely to carry disease causing bacteria."
