ABSTRACT

Different people from different socio-economic levels and hygiene status use the Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) daily and increase the chances of hand-borne transmission of microorganisms to the machine’s surfaces. ATMs might be potential areas for pathogen accumulation and they might have a role in microbial transmission to the community. This is a cross sectional analytical study using an average of five (5) banks automated teller machines in Umudike (Access, Sterling, Zenith, UBA and Ecobank). Sterile cotton swabs soaked in physiological saline was used to take swabs from the Screens, keyboards and slits of the ATM. The swabs were dipped into a normal saline and streaked on different selective media including nutrient agar, mannitol salt agar, macConkey agar. The inoculated media were then incubated for 24-48 hours. Standard biochemical tests were used to confirm the bacterial isolates. The bacteria identified were Bacillus, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Shigella, Pseudomonas, E.coli and Proteus with colony features, spore, gram staining, flagella, motility, biochemical tests characteristics of each. Staphylococcus spp has yellow colonies, gram positive, non spore-forming, absence of flagella, non motile, catalase positive, oxidase negative, coagulase positive and indole negative;  Salmonella spp has black colonies, gram negative, non spore-forming, no flagella, non motile, catalase positive, oxidase negative, coagulase negative and indole negative; Streptococcus spp has small white grey colonies, gram positive, non spore-forming, no flagella, non motile, catalase negative, oxidase negative, coagulase negative and indole positive; Shigella spp has creamy mucoid colonies, gram positive oxidase negative, coagulase negative and indole negative; Bacillus is comma-shaped and sticky, gram positive, spore-forming, has flagella, motile, catalase positive, oxidase positive, coagulase negative and indole negative; Pseudomonas  has mucoid colonies, gram negative, non spore-forming, has flagella, motile, catalase positive, oxidase negative, coagulase positive, and indole negative; E. coli has pink pigment, gram negative, non spore-forming, has flagella, motile, catalase positive, oxidase negative, coagulase negative and indole positive; Proteus has gray white colonies, gram negative, non spore-forming has flagella, motile, catalase positive, oxidase negative, coagulase negative and indole negative.  While the fungi identified were Yeast, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Rhizopus, Fusarium with microscopic features and colony features. Bacteria were dominant on the keypad because they are attached to the hands and transferred mainly by hands on the keypad. Fungi were dominant on screen because they are predominance on the air. Both bacteria and fungi are few on the slit. The mean bacteria occurrence was (37.5%) in the screen with an occurrence of 37.5% in each of the ATMs. The slit had bacteria occurrence of 30%. The gross mean fungi occurrence were 60% on screens, 56% on the buttons and 16% on the slit openings.