Multidrug-resistant Opportunistic and Pathogenic Bacteria Contaminate Algerian Banknotes Currency

Culture Media	Te banknotes studied (CFU/banknote)				New banknotes (CFU/banknote)
Culture Media	200 DZD	500 DZD	1000 DZD	2000 DZD	200 DZD	500 DZD	1000 DZD	2000 DZD
Nutrient agar (Total non-exigent flora)	4.3 × 10⁴ ± 9 × 10³	2.6 × 10⁴ ± 4 × 10³	1.5 × 10⁴ ± 6 × 10³	1.3 × 10³ ± 4 × 10²	200 ± 16	150 ± 27	120 ± 12	80 ± 5
Columbia agar (Exigent and non-exigent bacteria)	5.4 × 10⁵ ± 8 × 10⁴	1.8 × 10⁵ ± 4.3 × 10⁴	2.1 × 10⁴ ± 3 × 10³	2.2 × 10³ ± 8 × 10²	100 ± 29	50 ± 6	0	0
Chapman agar (Staphylococcus and other Gram-positive cocci)	5.3 × 10³ ± 4 × 10²	6.7 × 10³ ± 3 × 10²	6.6 × 10³ ± 9 × 10²	8,5 × 10² ± 7 × 10¹	0	0	0	0
Hektoen agar (Enterobacteriaceae and other non-exigent Gram-negative rods)	3.3 × 10³ ± 7 × 10²	200 ± 40	100 ± 20	0	0	0	0	0
Bile-Esculin agar (Enterococcus spp.)	200 ± 30	500 ± 20	300 ± 13	0	0	0	0	0
Cetrimide agar (Pseudomonas spp.)	80 ± 2	72 ± 4	75 ± 6	20 ± 3	0	0	0	0

1 Values are the means of three replicates

Table II

Strains isolated from Algerian banknotes currency and their characterization.

Notes	Strains	Biochemical identification (Api System)	Molecular identification	Resistance profiles	Hemo-lysis
200 DZD	B0P1	Staphylococcus cohnii	S. equorum	P, AZT, FOS, FA	none
	B1P3	Staphylococcus epidermidis	S. epidermidis	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CZ, CH, AZT,C, CN	none
	B1N2	Staphylococcus aureus	ND	P, OX, AMP, AZT, GN, FA	β
	B4M1	Staphylococcus auricularis	ND	AZT, FA, G, T, C	none
	B3M3	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, OX, E	none
	B4P8	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, AK	α
	B4N6	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, SXT	none
	B5M4	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, T, E	none
	B0H2	Bacillus sp.	B. firmus	P, OX, CZ, CH	β
	B5P5	Bacillus sp.	S. luteloa	P, OX, AMP	none
	B7G7	Bacillus sp.	B. psychrodurans	P, OX, AMP, FA, FOS	β
	B1MO	Rothia mucilaginosa	ND	P, OX, FA, V, CIP, C	none
	B1C1	Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Ps. aeruginosa	P, OX, AMP, AMC, TZP, TCC, CZ, CH, CEF, CXM, ERT, FA, TEC, VA, DAP	α
	B6C1	Brevundimonas vesicularis	B. vesicularis	P, OX, AMP, CZ, CEF, FA, G, TM, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, E, CN	none
	B7M1	AcinetobacterIwoffii	ND	P, OX, CZ, CH, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, T, CIP, LVX	α
	B7P2	Moraxella sp.	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, CN	none
	B6M5	Shewanella putrefaciens	ND	P, OX, AMP, AZ, CH, CZ, FOS, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, SXT	β
	B6J4	Klebsiella ozaenea	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CH, CZ, G, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, T, E, NIT	α
	B5S3	Enterobacter sakazakii	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CZ, CH, CEF, CXM, FA, TEC, VA, DAP	α
500 DZD	C1P1	Staphylococcus arlettae	S. arlettae	P, OX, AMP, CH, CZ, CEF, AZT, TEC, VA, E, G, TM, T, E, CN	none
	C5H1	Staphylococcus lentus	ND	P, AMP, AMC, AZT, G, AF	α
	C5G4	Staphylococcus saprophyticus	S. saprophyticus	P, AZT, T, E, CN	none
	C1M1	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, E	none
	C4J3	Micrococcus sp.	ND	DAP, T, E	α
	C4P3	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, T	none
	C5G1	Enterococcus faecalis	E. faecalis	OX,CZ, CH, CEF, CXM, FEP,TZP, TCC, AK, G, TM, CN, E	α
	C5P3	Enterococcus faecium	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CH, CZ, CTX, CXM, FEP, ERT, AK, G, TM, FOS, CIP, LVX, T, E, CN	α
	C2H0	Bacillus sp.	ND	P, OX, AMP, E	β
	C5T1	Bacillus sp.	ND	P, OX, AMP, CZ	β
	C5C7	Rothia mucilaginosa	ND	P, OX, AK, G	none
	C1N3	Pseudomonas fuorescens	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CZ, CH, CEF, CXM, ERT, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, G, E	none
	C2C5	Pseudomonas mendocina	Ps. mendocina	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CH, CZ, CEF, CXM, CTX, CAZ, ERT, G, FOS, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, CIP, LVX	α
	C5C11	Pseudomonas fuorescens	Ps. fragi	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CH, CZ, CTX, CXM, FEP, AZT, TZP, ERT, G, TM, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, CIP, T, E, CN	α
	C3K1	AcinetobacterIwoffii	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CZ, CH, FA, TEC, VA, DAP	none
	C4R11	Weeksella virosa	ND	P, OX, CIP, AK, AZT, G, TM, FA, TEC, VA, DAP	none
1000 DZD	D1C1	Micrococcus sp.	ND	P, FA, C	none
	D1H1	Enterobacter cloacae	E. cloacae	P, OX, AMP, AMC, AZT, CZ, CH, CEF, CXM, CTX, CAZ, FEP, ERT, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, TIG, SXT	α
	D3P5	Klebsiella oxytoca	ND	P, OX, AMP, CZ, G, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, C, CIP, NIT	α
	D2P1	Alcaligenes faecalis	A. faecalis	P, OX, AMP, AMC, AZT, ERT, CAZ, FEP, G, FOS, FA, TEC, VA, CIP, DAP	none
	D4C5	AcinetobacterIwoffii	A. lwoffii	P, OX, AMP, CZ, CH, G, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, E, SXT	α
2000 DZD	DM4S1	Staphylococcus aureus	ND	P, OX, CZ, CH, AZT, G, TM	α
	DM5C1	Staphylococcus epidermidis	ND	P, OX, AMP, AMC, AK, G, TM, FOS, FA, TEC, VA, CIP, T, E, SXT, CN, RA, NIT	none
	DM3C3	Micrococcus sp.	M. luteus	AZT, NIT	none
	DM3C5	Rothia dentocariosa	ND	P, SXT, NIT	none
	DM1C2	Klebsiella ozaeane	K. oxytoca	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CH, CZ, CEF, CTX, CXM, FEP, AZT, ERT, AK, G, TM, FOS, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, C, CIP, LVX, T, TIG, E, CN	α
	DM2C3	Serratia marscesens	S. rubidaea	P, OX, AMP, AMC, CZ, CH, CEF, CTX, CAZ, ERT, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, C, CIP, LVX, SXT	none
	DM1J1	AcinetobacterIwoffii	ND	P, OX, CZ, CH, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, CIP, SXT	none
	DM4G6	Chryseobacterium indologenes	ND	P, OX, CZ, CH, CXM, CAZ, FEP, AZT, ERT, AK, G, TM, FA, TEC, VA, DAP, SXT	none

1 ND – not determined

Phylogenetic relationships between strains isolated from Algerian banknotes and reference bacterial strains using 16S rRNA sequences: (a) Gram-positive strains; (b): Gram-negative strains. The evolutionary distances were computed using the Tamura-Nei method and are in the units of the number of base substitutions per site. The phylogenetic trees were constructed using the Neighbor-joining algorithm. Bootstrap values (1,000 replicates) are indicated at the nodes.

Table III

Diversity of bacterial strains isolated from Algerian banknotes.

Genera	Number of strains for each denomination				Total (frequency %)
Genera	200 DZD	500 DZD	1000 DZD	2000 DZD	Total (frequency %)
Staphylococcus	4	3	0	2	9 (18.75)
Micrococcus	4	3	1	1	9 (18.75)
Bacillus	2	2	0	0	4 (8.33)
Pseudomonas	1	3	0	0	4 (8.33)
Acinetobacter	1	1	1	1	4 (8.33)
Rothia	1	1	0	1	3 (6.25)
Klebsiella	1	0	1	1	3 (6.25)
Enterococcus	0	2	0	0	2 (4.16)
Enterobacter	1	0	1	0	2 (4.16)
Serratia	0	0	0	1	1 (2)
Brevundimonas	1	0	0	0	1 (2)
Shewanella	1	0	0	0	1 (2)
Moraxella	1	0	0	0	1 (2)
Weeksella	0	1	0	0	1 (2)
Alcaligenes	0	0	1	0	1 (2)
Chryseobacterium	0	0	0	1	1 (2)
Sporosarcina	1	0	0	1	1 (2)
Total	19	16	5	8	N = 48

Table IV

Antibiotic resistance in Algerian banknotes isolates.

Families	Antibiotics	Number of Gram-positive resistant strains (N = 28)	Number of Gram-negative resistant strains (N = 20)	Number of Total resistant strains Frequencies (%)
β-lactams	P	24	20^*	44 (91.7)
	OX	15	20^*	35 (72.9)
	AMP	10	16	26 (54.1)
	AMC	4	12	16 (33.3)
	CZ	7	17	24 (50)
	CH	6	15	21 (43.8)
	CEF	2	8	10 (20.8)
	CXM	2	10	12 (25)
	CTX	1	5	6 (12.5)
	CAZ	0	5	5 (10.4)
	FEP	2	5	7 (14.6)
	TZP	1	2	3 (6.2)
	TCC	1	1	2 (4.2)
	AZT	9	6	15 (31.2)
	ERT	1	9	10 (20.8)
Aminosides	AK	5	3	8 (16.7)
	G	8	10	18 (37.5)
	TM	5	5	10 (20.8)
Phosphonic acids	FOS	4	4	8 (16.7)
Fusidanines	FA	7	20^*	27 (58.3)
Glycopeptides	TEC	2	20^*	22 (45.8)
Glycopeptides	VA	2	20^*	22 (45.8)
Lipopeptides	DAP	1	20^*	21 (43.8)
Oxazolidinones	LIN	0	0	0 (0)
Phenicols	C	4	3	7 (14.6)
Fluoroquinolones	CIP	3	9	12 (25)
Fluoroquinolones	LVX	1	4	5 (10.4)
Tetracyclines	T	8	4	12 (25)
Tetracyclines	TIG	0	2	2 (4.2)
Macrolides	E	12	7	19 (39.6)
Lincosamides	CN	6	4	10 (20.8)
Rifamycines	RA	1	2	3 (6.2)
Nitrofurantoines	NIT	3	2	5 (10.4)
Sulfamides	SXT	3	6	9 (18.8)

1* – natural resistance for Gram-negative bacteria

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2020-053 | Journal eISSN: 2544-4646 | Journal ISSN: 1733-1331

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 491 - 501

Submitted on: Sep 7, 2020

Accepted on: Nov 11, 2020

Published on: Dec 27, 2020

Published by: Polish Society of Microbiologists

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

currency,

Algeria,

opportunistic bacteria,

antibiotic resistance,

circulating resistance genes

Related subjects:

Life sciences,

Microbiology and virology

© 2020 LYDIA NEÏLA DJOUADI, NADJET GUEZLANE-TEBIBEL, KENZA MANSOURI, HANANE BOUMERDASSI, KARIM ARAB, MARIE-LAURE FARDEAU, FARIDA NATECHE, published by Polish Society of Microbiologists
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Volume 69 (2020): Issue 4 (December 2020)

Multidrug-resistant Opportunistic and Pathogenic Bacteria Contaminate Algerian Banknotes Currency

Figures & Tables

Table I

Table II

Fig. 1.

Table III

Table IV

Paradigm

My account