The Prevalence of Parasitic Contamination of Paper Money in Fars Province of Iran

Introduction: Money is one of the most commonly used microbial carriers. Parasites are no exception to this rule. The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of parasitic species in paper money collected from various sources in Fars province and to suggest ways to improve the health of the community. Methods: For this study, firstly, banknotes were collected from people between March 2018 and March 2019. Those were randomly collected from different parts of rural and urban areas of Fars province from various sources including butchers, bakers, supermarkets, gas stations and vegetable stores and stored at DW. After those exit from the water the solution was centrifuged at 3000 RPM. Then surface water was drained and expanded from the remaining materials and stained with Giemsa color and was seen under the microscope. Results: In the urban areas from 54 contamination, 2 (3.7%) of the contaminations were related to Giardia, 22 (40.7%) to E. coli, 8 (14.8%) to Endolimax nana, 4 (7.4%) to Ascaris, 4 (7.4%) to Hookworm, 12 (22.3%) to Unknown larvae, 2 (3.7%) to Hymenolepis nana. In the rural areas, 4 (11.7%) of the infections were related to giardia, 8 (23.5%) to E.coli, 6 (17.6%) to Endolimax nana, 2 (5.8%) Ascaris, 4 (11.7%) Hookworm, 10 (29.4%) Unknown larvae. Conclusion: According to results since Money has many contacts with hands, it can be concluded that hand hygiene is important for promoting community health.

Keywords:

infection , paper money , Parasites , health