Microbial Contamination of Indian Currency Notes and Coins in Kolkata, West Bengal- A Survey

Abstract

Currency notes and coins are widely exchanged between various communities for trade, which may serve as a carrier of microbes and lead to transmission of infectious diseases. In this survey, the life threatening condition of Indian people was observed by studying the microbial contamination of Indian currency notes and coins. Here 40 samples of notes and coins were collected from various place of society and were tested to isolate various loads of microorganisms on currency notes and coins. Among the tested samples, yeast were present in 85%, Staphylococcus spin 75%,Pseudomonas sp. were in 65%,vibrio sp. were in 22.5%, fungi were in 45% and coliform were in 15% of samples. Among them, some colonies are resistant to generally used antibiotics. The Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) were also identified in 25% of the tested samples.