Bacteriological Examination of Currency notes in Atbara Town in Sudan

Abstract

Abstract: Currency notes and coins serve as an agency of transmission of microorganisms since they are passed freely from hand to hand as a medium of exchange. A research, with an objective to explore the microbial load on Sudanese paper currency notes and coins, was carried out at Faculty of Education, Department of life science and Environmental Studies ,Nile Valley University . All together 60 samples of Sudanese pounds (1, 2, 5 and 10 for paper notes and one pound only for coin currency ) were randomly collected from different sources at Atbara town (bus conductors ,butcher, vegetable sellers, restaurant and grocery) and were analyzed for bacterial contamination. Among the total aerobic bacteria, 98% were contaminated with coliform bacteria ,98 % showed presence of Staphylococci ,90 % for Bacillus spp. The percentage of predominant bacteria found in paper currency notes were S.aureus (33. 5%), E.coli (41.8 %),S. epidermidis (36.7%), Streptococcus spp. (3 6.8%), Bacillus spp. (27.8%) , Micrococcus (6.7%), while in coins were, S.aureus (17.7%), E.coli (13.3 %),S. epidermidis (17.8. %), Streptococcus spp.(17.8%), Bacillus spp., (6.7%) , Micrococcus sp. recorded in paper banknotes only (6.6%) and Shigella sp. was isolated from coin only (4.4%), Paper notes was heavily contaminated when compared with coin. The presence of high microbial load on currency notes and coins indicate the potentials of such currencies for possible spread in the human communities.