Study of Parasites and Other Pathogenic Isolates from Nigerian Currency Circulating in Commercial Areas of Lafia Metropolis, Nasarawa State, Nigeria

The slow embrace of the use of electronic currency in developing countries accounts for the very high use of physical cash which in turn gets contaminated. Thus, the study on parasites and other pathogenic isolates from circulating Naira notes in commercial areas of Lafia metropolis, Nasarawa State, Nigeria was carried out from June, 2019 to March, 2020. A total of three hundred and eighty-four (384) samples of Nigerian Naira notes consisting of forty-eight (48) pieces of each of the following denomination: N5, N10, N20, N50, N100, N200, N500, and N1000 notes which includes both polymer and paper notes were randomly collected from three (3) commercial banks and two (2) markets within Lafia metropolis. From the banks, samples of the Naira notes were collected from Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and over the counters, while in the markets samples were collected from food vendors, fishmongers, butchers, hawkers and fruits/vegetable vendors. Five (7.8%) out of the 64 notes sourced from banks were parasitized by Taenia species 2(3.1%), hookworm 1(1.6%), Ascaris lumbricoides 1(1.6%) and Trichuris trichiura 1(1.6%) respectively, although differences in prevalence between the parasites was not significant (χ² = 0.85443, df = 3, P = 0.8364). Of the 384 Naira notes screened for bacteria, 271(70.6%) Naira notes were contaminated with 7 bacterial isolates which spread across Staphylococcus epidemides (13.5%), E. coli (10.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (10.7%), Pseudomonas spp. (10.2%), Enterococcus spp. (9.6%), Samonella spp. (9.4%) and Corynebacterium spp. (6.3%). However, there was no significant difference (χ² =10.834, df = 6, P = 0.09365) in the varying prevalence’s between bacteria species isolated from Naira notes. The mint Naira notes had no parasite nor bacterial contamination whereas the very dirty Naira notes had the highest parasitic and bacterial contaminants. The prevalence of parasites in relation to the physical conditions of Naira notes significantly varied for parasitic contaminants (χ² =8.4564, df = 3, P = 0.03746) as well as bacterial isolates (χ² = 308.21, df = 3, P = 0.0001). Parasitic and bacterial contamination respectively was prevalent in N100 and N200. Naira notes from fishmongers had the highest bacterial contaminants. The findings in this study clearly shows that Naira notes in circulation within Lafia metropolis should be handled by everyone with uttermost care since the notes stand a chance of being contaminated with human pathogens. Also, individuals should always wash or sanitize their hands after cash transactions.