Antimicrobial activities of camphor on Nigerian currency notes

The use of purses and pouches were recommended to prevent protracted body contact with currency notes in order to abate microbial contamination of the notes, however many currency users do not comply with the use of purses, and many pouches where these notes are kept are usually dirty. It is therefore imperative to look for a way of disinfecting the notes and the environment in which it is kept. Camphor has been discovered as an effective insecticide and has been used by people to safeguard fabrics without adverse health effect. It is instructive to investigate the possibility of using the substance as antimicrobial agent for currency notes. One hundred and twenty- eight (128) samples of currency notes containing different denominations were collected at random from different sources in Ado- Ekiti metropolis. Sixty-four (64) samples were treated with camphor for six hours; the other sixty-four samples were left untreated. Isolation of microorganisms was carried out using pour plate method, microbial loads and antimicrobial activity of camphor on the samples was determined. Isolates from the samples included Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, Aspergillus flavus, Mucor, Rhizopus nigrican and Scopulariopsis, but E. aerogenes, Rhizopus nigrican and Scopolariopsis were not isolated on the ₦500 and ₦1000 notes of the treated samples. The microbial loads of untreated currency notes ranged from 1.70 ×102 – 2.4× 102 cfu/ml while that of treated samples ranged from 1.00 × 102 – 1.2 × 102 cfu/ml. The reduction in the number of microorganisms and the microbial loads of the treated samples is evidence that camphor could be used as an antimicrobial agent on currency notes.