Letter to Editor: Microbial Contamination of Currency

Banknotes and coins are widely used throughout the world. They are exchanged and they come into contact with differentenvironments and many different individuals during their circulation. Therefore, they can become contaminatedwith microorganisms and transfer bacteria across environments. Unhealthy conditions and unhealthy habits such ascounting bills using saliva from the mouth to dampen the fingers can facilitate the transmission of microbial contamination(1, 2). These contaminations may be directly transmitted through contact with money by the hands or indirectlythrough exposure to food, water, or other objects (3). Based on some studies, the most commonly found microorganismson the surfaces of banknotes and currency are Bacillus and Staphylococcus aurous species (4).However, there is no evidence of any report of an outbreak of disease due to contaminated money (3). Referring to theliterature, developing countries have the highest rates of money contamination. Vriesekoop et al. (2010) reported the contaminationof coins and paper bills and found they were polluted with pathogenic agents such as Staphylococcus aureus,Escherichia coli and Klebsiella introbacterin (5). Also, in a similar study, about 93 species of bacteria belonging to Staphylococcus,Streptococcus, Enterobacter, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Diptheroids, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichiavulneris were detected on banknotes (6). Alemu (2014) reported that there was a bacterial contamination rate rangingfrom 60% to 100% on paper currency (7). Also, Alemu reported that the Bangladesh, India, Iraqi, Ghanaian, Saudi, Palestine,Mexico, Colombian, and South African banknotes and currency were contaminated with pathogenic and potentiallypathogenic microorganisms. Thus, although there is sufficient information indicating money can transmit infections,the use of coins and banknotes in trading and business is a common occurrence. So, what should be done Uses of various types of credit cards in business and trading systems can decrease the number of transactions usingbanknotes and coins. Other suggestions are online shopping and using money counter devices instead of hand countingmoney.

کلیدواژه ها:

Microbial ، Contamination ، Bacteria