ISSN: 2641-9459
Authors: Amala Smart Enoch* and Alaye Diane
The world is witnessing an unprecedented rise in the use of herbal medicines. In Nigeria some individuals solely believe in the curative ability of local herbal drugs for the treatment of different forms of ailment. Most local herbal drugs are advertized to cure more than an aliment such as infections and hepatitis, diabetes and gastroenteritis, malaria, general body pain and weakness etc. The preparation and packaging of these local herbal medications are not carried out under appropriate hygienic conditions and they could be prone to contamination by potential pathogenic bacteria. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the bacteriological quality of some local herbal drugs marketed in some parts of Port Harcourt Rivers State Nigeria and their antimicrobial activity compared to some orthodox antimicrobial agents. Materials and Methods: Ten (10) different local herbal drugs were purchased from hawkers, examined for bacteriological quality and antibacterial activities. Each of the sample for bacteriological examination were diluted serially in sterile peptone water by pipeting 1mL of the neat to 9ml of sterile peptone water in a test tube and subsequently diluted to 105 and 0.01mL of the last dilution 105 were cultured on Nutrient and MacConkey agar plates. Susceptibility testing were carried out with the isolated bacteria. The susceptibility was compared with that of already identified clinical isolates of E. coli and S. aureus. Results: The results obtained showed E. coli (69.9%), S. aureus (18.9%), Klebsiella sp. (3.7%) and Bacillus sp. (7.5%) respectively. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the isolated bacteria from the local herbal drugs were 100% resistant to the orthodox drugs tested against them, whereas the clinical isolates tested were 50% susceptible to the orthodox drugs. The bacteria isolated from herbal drugs and the isolates from clinical specimens were 100% resistant to the local herbal drugs. Conclusion: The bacteriological qualities of the local herbal drugs marketed in some parts of Port Harcourt were poor due to improper hygiene during processing and packaging. Bacterial isolates from the local herbal drugs were resistant to the local herbal drugs and the orthodox drugs. Contaminated local herbal drugs might serve as means of transmitting infections and medium for exchanging resistant genes by the contaminating bacteria. The antibacterial property of herbal drugs may have been altered by the activities of bacteria
Keywords: Antibacterial; Bacterial Quality; Herbal Drugs; Marketed
