Abstract
Currency is possibly one of the main media transmitting pathogens and drug resistance due to its wide circulation in daily life. In this study, we made a comprehensive characterization of the bacterial community present on banknotes collected from different geographical regions of Hong Kong (HK) by performing in vitro characterization of the bacterial presence and resistome profile, as well as metagenomic analysis including microbial diversity, the prevalence of potential pathogens, the dissemination potential of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs), among others. When comparing the bacterial community of HK banknotes with other HK environmental samples, including water and marine sediment, we revealed that HK banknotes cover nearly 50% of total genera found in all the environmental samples, implying that banknotes harbor diverse bacteria originated from a variety of environments. Furthermore, the banknotes have higher abundance of potential pathogenic species (~5 times more) and ARGs (~5 times more) with higher dissemination potential (~48 times more) compared with other environmental samples. These findings unveiled the capabilities of this common medium of exchange to accommodate various bacteria, and transmit pathogens and antibiotic resistance. Furthermore, the observed independence of microbiome profile from the city's topological indices led us to formulate a hypothesis that due to their high circulation banknotes may harbor a homogenized microbiome.
Highlights
Antibiotic resistance has become a global public health concern in the past decades
Hong Kong (HK) $20 notes were collected from cashiers at 12 hospitals and three metro stations located in three geographical regions of HK: HK Island (HKI), Kowloon (KL), New Territories (NT; Figure 1A)
In order to evaluate experimentally the antibiotic resistant levels of bacteria found on the HK banknotes, we measured the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for selected antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, FIGURE 1 | Microbial community on HK banknotes. (A) Sampling locations (See Table S1 for details)
Summary
Antibiotic resistance has become a global public health concern in the past decades. Bacteria with antibiotic resistance including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and multi-drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have been observed around the world (Bassetti et al, 2009; Raviglione and Sulis, 2016). Metagenomic Analysis of Banknotes as malaria, HIV, and influenza has been reported (Richman et al, 1994; Fairhurst and Dondorp, 2016; Li J. et al, 2016). The emergence of these resistant microorganisms has been accelerated by overusing of antibiotics on both humans (Llor and Bjerrum, 2014) and livestock (Landers et al, 2012). Investigating the reservoir of the antibiotic resistance and pathogenic factors in vehicles of interaction between humans and the microbial world has become an important task
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