MICROORGANISMS ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERFACES: AN EXAMINATION OF AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINES AND CYBERCAFÉS IN ILESA AND IJEBU-JESA, NIGERIA.
Abstract
This study examined ATMs and keyboards in public cybercafés of Ilesa & Ijebu-jesa, Nigeria for the presence of bacteria of health importance.Ten ATMs in Ilesa and 10 cybercafés each in Ilesa & Ijebu-jesa were sampled at random and cultured by standard procedures. Total bacterial counts and coliform counts were recorded. The susceptibility of isolates to commercially available antibiotics was assayed by the disk diffusion method.Total bacterial counts from ATM surfaces in Ilesa ranged from 2.80 x 105 CFU/Ml to 1.90 x 105 CFU/Ml and the mean count was 2.08 x 105 CFU/Ml. The mean heterotrophic count of keyboards from Ilesa was 2.01 x 105 CFU/Ml while the mean coliform count was 1.50 x 103 CFU/Ml. In Ijebu-jesa, the maximum bacterial count was observed on the 4th keyboard sampled; also the only keyboard from which coliform bacteria was isolated (1.00 x 103 CFU/Ml). The mean heterotrophic count of keyboards in this area was 2.42 x 105 CFU/Ml. Staphylococcus aureus made up 50 % of isolates from ATMs in Ilesa, 90 % of those from cybercafés in Ilesa and 20 % of cybercafés in Ijebu-jesa. Pseudomonas sp. was 10 % of isolates from ATMs surfaces in Ilesa and keyboards in Ijebu-jesa cybercafés and 30 % of those from keyboards in Ilesa. Isolates were 53 % susceptible to common antibiotics. The study concluded there was high presence of bacteria on the surfaces of ATMs and keyboards in Ilesa and Ijebu-jesa, some of which were potentially pathogenic and drug resistant.
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