Medical Implications Of The Fungi Flora Of Naira - “A Nigerian Currency”

Abstract

Study BackgroundDespite the impregnation of paper currency notes with disinfectant to inhibit microorganisms, pathogens had long been isolated from currency notes .The microorganisms implicated included members of the family Enterobacteriaceae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Vibrio cholera, e.t.c. Simultaneous handling of food and money contributes to the incidence of food-related public health incidents. This work focuses on the fungi flora load of Nigerian currency and the associated medical hazard.Study Design/ Methods: A completely randomized sample collection design was adopted. A total of 160 dirty and tattered notes, and 40 minted denominations were randomly collected from various groups using the currency in Maiduguri Metropolis and Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Culture was by the pour plate method. Other routine fungi isolation techniques were adopted.RESULT : The fungi flora of the various denominations of Nigerian currency Notes does not differ significantly- As the fungi loads of the various Aspergillus species, and Blastomyces dermatitidis isolated from the various currency denominations had statistical calculated F value less than table value using the one-way ANOVA technique.CONCLUSION: All currency notes in use may be potential sources of disseminating hazardous fungi pathogens no matter the type, - dirty, tattered, nor minted naira notes