ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the prevalence of air microflora on Nigerian currency notes which were randomly collected from individuals within Umudike. A total of 10 pieces of Naira notes (2 pieces of each of the denominations of N10, N20, N50, N100, and N200) were randomly collected from individuals within Umudike. Samples were collected in sterile leather bags using disposable sterile hand gloves. These were immediately taken to the laboratory for analysis. A total of five (5) bacteria and two(2) fungal strains were obtained. The details of these isolates include; Bacillus sp, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas sp, Escherichia coli, and klebsiella sp, Aspergillus flavus, and Rhizopus stolonifer. The total heterotrophic plate count ranged from 3.2 × 105cfu/ml to 6.6 × 105 cfu/ml with the 10 naira note giving the highest mean count of 6.6 × 105 cfu/ml whereas the 200 naira note had the lowest mean count of 3.2 × 105cfu/ml. The coliform plate count ranged from 3.9 × 105cfu/ml to 6.2 × 105cfu/ml with the 100 naira note giving the highest mean count of 6.2 × 105cfu/ml whereas the 50 naira note had the lowest mean count of 3.9 × 105cfu/ml. The total fungal plate count ranged from 3.1 × 105cfu/ml to 4.8 × 105cfu/ml with the 50 naira note currency giving the highest mean count of 4.8 × 105cfu/ml whereas the 20 naira note currency had the lowest mean count of 3.1 × 105cfu/ml. It was observed that Staphylococcus aureus is the most frequently occurring bacterial isolates from the naira notes with a percentage occurrence of (33.3%), followed by Bacillus sp with a percentage occurrence of (26.7%), then Escherichia coli with a percentage occurrence of (20.0%) and Klebsiella sp with a percentage occurrence of (13.0%), whereas Pseudomonas aeruginosa has the least percentage occurrence of (6.7%). In that same sequence, Aspergillus flavus is the most frequently occurring fungal isolates from the naira notes with a percentage occurrence of (75.0%) whereas Rhizopus stolonizer has the least percentage occurrence of (25.0%). From the result of the present study, The likelihood of contacting infections due to contact with naira notes is high considering the microbial count gotten in the study. It can be recommended that people should improve their personal health consciousness by washing hands after handling of money notes and avoiding using saliva during counting of paper money notes