Microbial Contamination of Ghanaian Cedi Notes from Traders of the Tamale Central Market, Ghana

The study was to determine the microbial contamination of Ghanaian cedi notes from traders in the Tamale Central Market, Ghana. A total of ninety (90) currency notes of three lower denominations mainly in circulation (Ghanaian cedi 1, 2 and 5) were collected into sterile paper envelopes. Membrane filtration technique was used to determine total coliform bacteria, Salmonella spp and Escherichia coli. Microbes isolated from the cedi notes were Escherichia coli (19.1%), Salmonella species(3.8%), Bacillus species (0.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (0.0%) and Total coliform (76.6%). The five Ghana Cedi notes had the highest microbial load (746) followed by the two Ghana cedi notes (593) and one Ghana cedi notes (44) recorded the least microbial load. There was also a strong positive correlation (0.97*) between the GH¢5 and GH¢2 notes at 1% significant level which indicate common source of microbial contamination of the cedi notes. Five non-circulated notes denomination were used as control recorded no microbial count. The study revealed that handling of Ghana cedi notes cannot be risk free. It is therefore recommended that individuals should improve upon their personal health consciousness by washing hands after handling of currency notes.