Prevalence and public health implications of the microbial load of abused Naira notes

Abstract

A hundred and forty (140) pieces of abused Naira notes were randomly and aseptically collected in Kano metropolis and examined microbiologically for the load and type of microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) using swab-rinse and standard plate count techniques. The mean average bacterial counts on the notes ranged between 3.59 x 102 cfu/ml and 1.29 x 105 cfu/ml while fungal counts ranged between 3.24 x 102 cfu/ml and 1.59 x 106 cfu/ml. The lowest and highest counts for both bacteria and fungi were found in the N500 and N5 abused naira denominations respectively. The bacteria isolated include the genera of Bacillus, Brucella, Clostridium, Corynebacterium, Listeria, Micrococcus and Staphylococcus while fungi include the genera of Aspergillus, Fusarium, Mucor, Penicillium and Rhizopus. There was no recovery of both bacteria and fungi in the control. The implications of the results have been discussed.

Keywords: Microbiological load, abused naira notes, public health, Kano.