Isolation and Identification of Bacteria on Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Makurdi Metropolis

Abstract

The automated teller machine (ATM) has been an important device in the banking sector and other financial institutions. The aim of this study was to isolate and identify Bacteria on the keypads of selected Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in Makurdi metropolis. Swab sticks soaked with sterile normal saline were used to collect specimens from the keypads of the ATMs. The swab sticks were immediately transferred to the laboratory of Microbiology in the Department of Biological Science, Benue State University Makurdi. The collected samples were pooled into different tubes containing sterile normal saline and was agitated for 5minutes. This was further inoculated using the spread plate technique. The keypads of fifty (50) ATMs from five different locations in Makurdi were examined for bacterial contamination. The bacteria isolated from this study were, Staphylococcus aureus with a prevalence of (41.6%), Escherichia coli (34.4%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (24.0%) on the keypads of the ATMs. There was a statistically significant relationship between the bacterial isolates and the respective locations (X 2 =72.96; df=8; p=0.000). This result gives the impression that ATMs could be a potential "pathogen city". Therefore, adequate personal hygiene and regular routine cleaning of these machines bythe bank's authorities is recommended.

Microbial Load And Public Health Risks of Contaminated Keypads of Selected Automated Teller Machines of Some Banks in Abraka-Nigeria

“…It occurrence. This result is in agreement with a could also be credited to cross-contamination previous study (Awua et al, 2022), which from various human activities such as touching reported a 43% and 47% prevalence of E.coli the ATM keypads, coughing, sneezing, and respectively. This clearly suggests that the ATMs talking during the process of using the ATM; may be frequently contaminated with faeces.…”

“…This finding prevalence, although Ya'aba reported a lower corroborates a previous study (Agu et al, 2018), prevalence of Klebsiella pneumoniae in his which reported that exposure to many users, study. Isolating Klebsiella from the keypad of environmental components like rain, and ATMs may present a public health risk to users climatic elements such as wind may be who do not wash their hands after using these responsible for the high microbial load on the machines (Okoro et al, 2018). Findings from keypad of ATMs.…”

Isolation and Antibiogram Pattern of Bacteria Isolated from Automated Teller Machine (ATM) at Abuja Campus, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria

“…The result is consistent with the study of Dawodi and Akanbi [14], which identified bacteria from automated teller machines on the Federal Polytechnic Ede campus that are skin commensals (Staphylococcus and Micrococcus), environmental bacteria (Serratia and Pseudomonas), and intestinal bacteria (Salmonella and Klebsiella). This result is also in line with the work of Awua Yuana et al [15], who isolated Staphylococcus aureus (41.6%), Escherichia coli (34.4%), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (24.0%) on the keypads of the ATMs.…”