Keywords
Bacteria
E. coli
S. aureus
Naira
Nigeria
How to Cite
Abstract
Potentially pathogenic bacteria are routinely linked with different currencies worldwide. Not much focus has been on the actual pathogenic potential of these bacteria. This is essential as the risk would depend on whether the bacteria associated with the currency is a commensal or pathogen. This study was therefore aimed at exploring the virulence potential of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus isolated from specific Nigerian currency denominations. Presumptive E. coli and S. aureus isolates were obtained from the samples and their identities confirmed genotypically. A total of seven virulence and resistance genes were tested for (aggR, eae, ast, van, cat, pvl, icaA). Three of these were E. coli virulence genes (aggR, eae, ast), two S. aureus virulence (pvl, icaA) and two S. aureus resistance (van, cat). Sixty presumptive E. coli and S. aureus (30 each) were isolated and purified. Of these, 9 (30%) were confirmed as E. coli following genotypic identification and 7 (23%) as S. aureus. An assessment of the virulence potential of E. coli showed 100% detection of the ast gene, 55.6% detection of aggR and 44.4% detection of eae. For S. aureus, a much lower frequency of test genes was found with rates of 41.7%, 16.7%, 16.7% and 8.3% for pvl, icaA, van and cat respectively. This study therefore reports a low frequency of S. aureus virulence genes. The E. coli strains however, rather than being innocuous carry virulence factors. Furthermore, some of these have a known association with mobile genetic elements and hence a capacity to transform harmless commensal strains to pathogens.
References
Abdolmaleki, Z., Mashak, Z., Safarpoor Dehkordi, F. (2019). Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of antibiotic resistance in the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strains isolated from hospital cockroaches. Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, 8, 54.
Abrams, B.L., Waterman, N.G. (1972). Dirty money. JAMA. 219(9), 1202 – 1203.
Ajuga, M.U., Otokunefor, K., Agbagwa, O.E. (2021). Antibiotic resistance and ESBL production in Escherichia coli from various sources in Aba metropolis, Nigeria. Bulletin of the National Research Centre, 45(1), 1 – 9.
Alfadil, A., Ahmed, N., Suliman Mohamed, M., Ali, M.M., El Nima, E.A.I. (2018). Characterization of pathogenic bacteria isolated from Sudanese banknotes and determination of their resistance profile. International Journal of Microbiology, 2018, 4375164l.
Bhowmik, D., Chetri, S., Das, B.J., Dhar Chanda, D., Bhattacharjee, A. (2021). Distribution of virulence genes and SCCmec types among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus of clinical and environmental origin: a study from community of Assam, India. BMC Research Notes, 14(1), 58.
Bisi-Johnson, M.A., Obi, C.L., Vasaikar, S.D., Baba, K.A., Hattori, T. (2011). Molecular basis of virulence in clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and Salmonella species from a tertiary hospital in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Gut Pathogens, 3(1), 1-8.
Cabal, A., Garcia-Castillo, M., Canton, R., Gortazar, C., Dominguez, L., Alvarez, J. (2016). Prevalence of Escherichia coli virulence genes in patients with diarrhea and a subpopulation of healthy volunteers in Madrid, Spain. Frontiers in Microbiology, 7, 641.
Dias, R.C., Tanabe, R.H., Vieira, M.A., Cergole-Novella, M.C., Dos Santos, L.F., Gomes, T.A., Elias, W.P., Hernandes, R.T. (2020). Analysis of the virulence profile and phenotypic features of typical and atypical enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (EAEC) isolated from diarrheal patients in Brazil. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 10, 144.
Ellis, S.J., Crossman, L.C., McGrath, C.J., Chattaway, M.A., Holken, J.M., Brett, B., Bundy, L., Kay, G.L., Wain, J., Schuller, S. (2020). Identification and characterisation of enteroaggregative Escherichia coli subtypes associated with human disease. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-12.
Heshiki, Y., Dissanayake, T., Zheng, T., Kang, K., Yueqiong, N., Xu, Z., Sarkar, C., Woo, P.C., Chow, B.K., Baker, D., Yan, A. (2017). Toward a metagenomic understanding on the bacterial composition and resistome in Hong Kong banknotes. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8,632.
Jalali, S., Kohli, S., Latka, C., Bhatia, S., Vellarikal, S.K., Sivasubbu, S., Scaria, V., Ramachandran, S. (2015). Screening currency notes for microbial pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes using a shotgun metagenomic approach. PLoS ONE 10(6), e0128711.
Kaper, J.B., Nataro, J.P., Mobley, H.L. (2004). Pathogenic Escherichia coli. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 2(2), 123-140.
Karmakar, A., Jana, D., Dutta, K., Dua, P., Ghosh, C. (2018). Prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene among community acquired Staphylococcus aureus: a real-time PCR study. Journal of Pathogens, 2018, 4518541.
Kuhnert, P., Boerlin, P., Frey, J. (2000). Target genes for virulence assessment of Escherichia coli isolates from water, food and the environment. FEMS Microbiology Reviews, 24(1), 107-117.
Kumar, J.D., Negi, Y.K., Gaur, A., Khanna, D. (2009). Detection of virulence genes in Staphylococcus aureus isolated from paper currency. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 13(6), e450-e455.
Meng, J., Zhao, S., Doyle, M.P. (1998). Virulence genes of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli isolated from food, animals and humans. International Journal of Food Microbiology, 45(3), 229-235.
Orababa, O., Soriwei, J., Anibaba, O., Arowolo, M., Olayiwola, M. (2021). A systematic review on the microbial and parasitic contamination of naira notes. Global Biosecurity, 2(1).
Pakbin, B., Bruck, W.M., Rossen, J.W. (2021). Virulence factors of enteric pathogenic Escherichia coli: A review. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(18), 9922.
Phukan, C., Lahkar, M., Ranotkar, S., Saikia, K.K. (2016). Emergence of vanA gene among vancomycin-resistant enterococci in a tertiary care hospital of North - East India. The Indian Journal of Medical Research, 143(3), 357-361.
Thiruvengadam, S., Shreenidhi, K.S., Vidhyalakshmi, H., Ramya, M., Kamala, T., Sundararaman, T.R., Selvi, R. (2014). A study of bacterial profiling on coins and currencies under circulation and identifying the virulence gene in Chennai (TN). International Journal of ChemTech Research, 6(9), 4108-4114.
Veilleux, S., Dubreuil, J.D. (2006). Presence of Escherichia coli carrying the EAST1 toxin gene in farm animals. Veterinary Research, 37(1), 3-13.
Vriesekoop, F., Russell, C., Alvarez-Mayorga, B., Aidoo, K., Yuan, Q., Scannell, A., Beumer, R. R., Jiang, X., Barro, N., Otokunefor, K., Smith-Arnold, C. (2010). Dirty money: an investigation into the hygiene status of some of the world's currencies as obtained from food outlets. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 7(12), 1497-1502.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2022 Array