KARACHI, Dec 9: Currency notes play an important role in spreading diseases. In the hands of bus conductors and fish and meat sellers, the banknotes are literally pestilent. Coins, however, are relatively safe.

According to the report on a study conducted by Karachi University’s microbiology department, five- and ten-rupee banknotes carry gram negative pathogens like E-coli, Klebsiella, Proteus, Serratia, Citrobacter and Pseudomonas. These can cause diarrhoea and urinary tract infections, besides skin, burn and septicemic infections.

Under the study, 450 samples of notes and coins of one-, two-, five- and ten-rupee denomination were collected from various public places, including meat and fish shops, grocery shops, hospital pharmacies, canteens and buses. These were then cultured for the presence of different microorganisms.

To the shock of the person carrying out the tests, Saeedullah Khan, and his supervisor, Prof Shahana Urooj, almost all the samples tested positive vis-a-vis the presence of bacterial and fungal species. Furthermore, the bacterial load in notes collected from bus conductors and meat sellers yielded far more pathogens than the samples collected from canteens.

This showed conclusively that the bus conductors and meat and fish sellers generally didn’t give much thought to hygienic practices and, as a result, the things they regularly handled were contaminated.

In the study, some hand impressions of bus conductors were also taken. These impressions, too, tested positive for the presence of bacteria and fungi.

Karachi University’s study doesn’t provide evidences directly linking contaminated banknotes with the transmission of diseases. The presence of human pathogens in the samples, nevertheless, is cause for great concern because the notes most probably do play a role in the transmission and spread of diseases.

“Although there’s no direct evidence that presence of potential pathogens on currency notes results in infections... (but) contaminated notes may act as potential source of infections with antibiotic resistance,” said the report.

One particularly worrying finding of the study is that the isolates found were highly resistant to common antibiotics. This means fighting the resultant infections may prove to be a difficult proposition.

The antibiotics for which the samples were tested and for which they were found to be resistant included: Novobiocin, Roxithromycin, Sulfamethaxazole, Streptomycin, Cephazolin, Amoxacillin and Cefixamin.

The report claimed that the mass circulation of five- and ten-rupee notes in the contaminated hands of people from unprivileged classes, who travel long distances in public buses, may transmit diseases from one section of society to another.

According to the report, the one- and two-rupee coins are generally not as contaminated as the paper notes. “It is interesting to note that the metal coins had a very low bacterial count which could be due to the oligodynamic action of metals... .”

The report said the contaminated banknotes could fuel the spreading of diseases if good personal hygiene practices were not maintained. Therefore, hands should be washed properly before and after every meal, and after using toilet. Hands should also be washed before preparing foodstuffs.