ASSESSMENT OF BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF NAIRA NOTES IN CIRCULATION IN AFIKPO METROPOLIS

Abstract

The bacteriological quality of eight denominations of naira notes (N5,N10, N20, N50, N100, N200, N500 and N1000) from taxi driver, students and fish sellers in circulation in Afikpo was determined. The collected samples were each soaked in 50ml distilled water, thereafter 10-fold serial dilution was performed
up to 10^-3. By pour plate method, 10^-2 aliquot was seeded onto prepared MacConkey and nutrient agars plates for coliform and aerobic bacteria isolations respectively and. incubated for 24hours at 37⁰C. Results showed that N5 had the highest aerobic count of 3.0x10²fcfu/ml followed by N20 (24x10²cfu/ml)
with the least colony forming unit per milliliter (cfu/ml) of 10x10² from N1000. Coliform plate count also indicates higher contaminants with N5 having 2.7x10² cful^-1 followed by N10 (2.3x10² cfuml^-1) while N1000 also had the least with 7x10² cfuml^-1 respectively. The eight denominations yielded many
genera of bacteria, with N5 note having the highest microbial contamination while the least came from N1000. Bacteria isolates included pathogenic organisms like Proteus mirabilis, S. aureus, Enterobactersp., Salmonella sp., Pseudomonas sp.
and Klesiella pneumonia. Based on the findings, the
researchers recommend that: money should be carefully handled/stored as it may be a vehicle for the spread of diseases.