A Study on Bacterial Contamination of Libyan Currency in Al-Khoms, Libya
الخلاصة
ABSTRACT: Paper currencies have worldwide usage for purchasing goods and services. These are widely exchanged for buying ready to eat food, clothing, uncooked meat and fish, milk and drug from the market or a local store and are used in all sorts of transactions, the surface of a paper currency is surprisingly have a contamination with microorganisms. The survival of various microorganisms on money and their transmission via the hands of food vendors is often over looked as enteric disease reservoir. The type of contamination on paper notes is ultimately depending on the place and the activities performed prior the handling of the money in such a way that the notes carry the imprint of the previous activities. Therefore, this study aims to determine the extent the presence of bacterial contamination associated with Libyan paper bank notes circulation, collected from different locations in Al-Khoms city, Libya. Staphylococcus spp., Streptococcus spp., Bacillus spp., Klebsiella spp. And E. coli are isolated during this study. There is a contamination observed in this study and can be prevented by giving public knowledge about the usage of currencies and encouraging online transactions.