ASSESSMENT OF BACTERIAL LOAD ON PAKISTANI CURRENCY NOTES AND COINS IN CIRCULATION
*Musarrat Sharif and Farheen Ansari
ABSTRACT
Fomites are inanimate articles that are accomplished of maintaining, absorbing and transferring transmissible microorganisms and it is a significant channel of the spread of microorganisms by fomites. Water, soil and food borne infections are supposed to be affecting almost half of the world people. Money is exchangeable fomite and one of the most routinely passed articles throughout the world. Money whether in the form of coins or notes is perhaps the most widely handled item by people everyday throughout the world. If pathogenic bacteria and fungi contaminate these currencies, they will cause diseases in human. This study was conducted on two hundred and sixty Pakistani currency notes and coins samples of all denominations collected from different professional groups in Lahore city, Pakistan to determine the bacterial contamination. Out of these two hundred and sixty samples, ten currency notes and coins were used as control. The control samples had not bacterial contamination, other samples were 100% contaminated with bacteria. Total thirty seven different Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial species were isolated from Pakistani coins and currency notes such as S. aureus, S. epidermidis, S. saprophyticus, S. pneumoniae, S. viridans, S. pyogenes, E. faecalis, M. luteus, M. nishinomiyaensis, M. agilis, M. roseus, B. subtilis, B. cereus, B. vallismortis, B. thuringiensis, B. licheniformis, B. mycoides, B. weihenstephanes, Actinomycetes spp., E. coli, P. aeruginosa, P. putida, S. enterica, S. enteritidis, K. pneumoniae, K. oxytoca, S. sonnei, P. mirabilis, E. aerogenes, V. cholera, S. marcesens, A. salmonicida. This work confirms that Pakistani money might play a significant role in the transmission of pathogenic and contagious microorganisms as well as in the spread of infectious diseases either they are food, water and soil borne infections. We suggested that coins and currency notes must be handled with care and the handling money is an urgent issue to prevent diseases.
Keywords: Money, denomination, bacteria, pathogenic, contamination, infectious diseases, precautions.
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