Abundance and Antibiotic Resistance of Cultivable Bacteria and Fungi on Ethiopian Cash-Money in Nekemte Town

Abstract

In Ethiopia, marketing system depends on cash exchange that could be a vehicle for cross contamination. To investigate the loads of cultivatable bacteria and fungi on Ethiopian currencies, a total of 120 samples of Ethiopian money-cash called birr (ETB) with different denominations (10 ETB, 5 ETB, 1 ETB note, 1 ETB coin and 50 cents) were collected from street food sellers, taxi drivers, gamblers, restaurant workers, beggars, bank workers and butchers in Nekemte Town. The isolates were tested for resistance to antibiotics (µg/ml), Ampicillin (10), Cefalexin (16), Cefixime (5), and Cefuroxime (8). The highest number of Aerobic Mesophilic Bacteria (AMB) was 255.8 CFU/ ml on 1 ETB note notes collected from beggars. Similarly, the maximum number of Enterobacteriaceae and Bacillus was 138.1 CFU/ml and 33.8 CFU/ml counted on 1 ETB note collected from beggars. In addition, 44 CFU/ml of Coliforms and 103 CFU/ml of Staphylococcus bacteria were counted on 1 ETB note from street food sellers. The highest colony of yeast and molds was counted on 1 ETB note from street food sellers (125 CFU/ml) and from beggars (20.2 CFU/ml), respectively. The maximum number of pathogenic bacteria was Staphylococcus (91.7 CFU/ ml) followed by E. coli (44 CFU/ml) on 1 ETB notes from street food sellers. Bacillus was not detected on 50 cents coin from almost all sources. Bacillus was resistant to the test dose of the antibiotics. Besides, Shigella was only sensitive to Cefixime and the antibiotics were effective against the pathogens except Bacillus. In general, Ethiopian cash-money collected from Nekemte town is loaded with microorganisms and Cefixime is effective against most of the pathogens.