Prevalence of Microbial pathogens on Currency Notes Circulating in some Hospitals of Kano Metropolis, Kano State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study probe on the prevalence of microorganisms isolated from currency notes in three different hospitals of Kano metropolis. A total of three hundred and eighty-four (384) pieces of Nigerian currency notes were randomly collected from 3 different hospitals within Kano metropolis. The loads as well as type of nosocomial pathogens present were examined using standard microbiological techniques. The mean bacterial and fungal counts of currency notes were recorded and One hundred naira (₦100) was found to have the highest bacterial and fungal counts of 7.55x104±22.89 cfu/ml and 6.14x104±33.34 cfu/ml respectively. The lowest bacterial and fungal counts (3.74x104±30.09 cfu/ml and 2.35x104±29.44 cfu/ml) were found to be in onethousand-naira denomination (₦1000). Ten microbial species of nosocomial pathogens were isolated, eight of which are bacterial species and two are fungal species, they are; S. aureus, Streptococcus spp., E. coli, Klebsiella spp., Proteus spp., Salmonella spp., P. aeruginosa, Coagulase Negative Staphylococci, Aspergillus spp. and Candida spp. The total number of nosocomial pathogens isolated from the three hospitals was 482. The most dominant nosocomial isolates from the three hospitals was S. aureus135(28%) and the least dominant was Salmonella spp 2(0.4%). Hasiya Bayero Paediatric Hospital (HBPH) had the highest number of nosocomial pathogens to be 176 (36.51%) with Aspergillus spp 64(36.4%) being the most dominant and Salmonella spp 2(1.1%) being the least dominant, followed by Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital (MMSH) having a total of 161(33.40%) nosocomial pathogens with S. aureus 51(31.7%) having the highest number and P. aeruginosa 3(1.9%) having the least number of nosocomial pathogens. The hospital with the least number of nosocomial pathogens was Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH), Candida spp 65(100%) was the most dominant pathogen isolated from AKTH and E. coli 10(6.9%) was the least dominant. The result further suggests that it is important to employ protective measures to ensure the safety of individuals attending hospitals, including the patients on admission as well as the cashiers of the hospitals.