ABSTRACT
The
safety, efficacy and quality of herbal mixtures have been an important concern
for health authorities and health professional, especially now there is
increase in the use of herbal mixtures. This study was aimed at isolation and
identification of microorganisms from some liquid herbal mixtures sold in Enugu
metropolis, South East of Nigeria. A total of twenty samples of herbal mixture were selected at random,
from herbal shops in Enugu metropolis and were analysed in Microbiology
laboratory, Godfery Okoye University, samples were inoculated onto Nutrient
agar, MaCkonkey agar and Blood agar plates, and incubated at 37oC
for 24 hrs. Potatoe dextrose agar slants were also inoculated for the isolation
of fungi. Viable bacterial counts of the samples were also performed using
nutrient agar. The organisms isolated were identified using biochemical tests,
and the following organisms were identified Streptococcus
sp, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus sp, Proteus sp, Aspergillus sp, Rhizopus sp, Pseudomonas sp Bacillus sp Penicillum sp mucor sp. the herbal medicine were highly contaminated and most of the
organisms, isolated were gotten through poor handling, poor manufacturing of
this herbal mixtures and raw materials used in preparing this herbal mixtures.
CHAPTER
ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
OF STUDY
Herbal
medicines are naturally occurring plant derived substances that are used to
treat illness with local or regional healing practices. And these products are
complex mixtures of organic chemicals that may come from any raw or processed
part of a plant.
Herbal
medicine botanically is known as medicine or phytomedicine, is it the process
of using plant seeds, Berries roots, leaves, barks, or flower for medicinal
purposes, which many of them are believed to have medicinal properties which
are used to treat minor illness and disturbances (Snezana, et al., 2012). They are promoted as natural and safe and are
therefore the preferred choice. There herbal preparations are used to treat
various types of aliment, including diaherea, urinary tract infection, typhoid
fever and skin disease (Sofawora 1993).
The
world health organization (WHO) defined traditional medicine (TM) as the total
combination of knowledge and practices, whether explicable or not, used in
diagnosing preventing or eliminating physical mental or social diseases(WHO,
2008) which may rely exclusively on past experience and observation, handed
down from generation to generation verbally or otherwise.
Throughout
history, all cultures have employed a variety of plant derived material for the
prevention and treatment of disease (H.B
et al., 1999) these herbal
medicines have received official recognition worldwide by different health
authorities (R.B,1983;O.Akarale 1987). In developing countries, as much as 80%
of the indigenous population depends on traditional plants as their primary
source of health care (R.B, 1983). In most African countries including Nigeria
herbal medicine is recognized as an important component of health care system,
especially among rural dwellers that constitute about 70% of the population
(Esinione et al., 2002). Alternative
medicine, such as herbal medicine are now gaining popularity, especially
because of typically low side effect (Wilt et
al., 2000) and high level of acceptance by patient (Ujam et al., 2013).
There
appear to be an increase in the production of herbal medicine in the last
decade, and there has been an upsurge in the circulation of herbal product in
Nigeria (Oyetayo, 2008).With these increased usage, the safety, efficacy and
quality of medicine have been an important concern for health authorities and
health professional (Oluyege and Adelabu, 2010).Due to the increased widespread
use of traditional medicine it has prompted the WHO to promote the integration
of traditional medicine and complimentary or alternative medicine into the
national health care system of some countries and to encourage the development
of national policy and regulation as essential indicators of the level of
integration of such medicine within the national healthcare system (WHO, 2011).
Since they are natural products all parts of the
plants can be degraded by bacteria and fungi especially molds. Unscientific
methods of cultivation and collection, inappropriate harvesting and cleaning,
unsuitable transportation, prolonged drying and storages, inadequate hygiene of
producers and congenital climatic condition renders the raw plant material
prone to infestation and exposed them to many microbe contamination. Raw
materials are most often degraded by microorganisms before harvesting during
handling and after prolonged storage (Matthew, 1995; Kenneth 1989). The
presence sufficient numbers of microbes can be harmful to consumers. As a
result of fungal contamination, the risk of mycotoxin production, especially
afflatoxin, should be taken into consideration in the manufacturing process
because of the proven mutagenic, carcinogenic, tretratogenic, neurotoxic,
nephrotoxic, immunosuppressive activities, (Reifei, 1988; Scimca, 1995; FAO,
2000; Hohler, 2000).
The microbial quantity of herbal drugs has to be
coordinated with the regulation of the European pharmacopoeia 6th
edition and regulation of medical safety of dietary ingredient. Despite several
reports of fungal contamination and aflatoxins production in food stuff,
limited research has be carried out on the microbial isolation and
identification.
Herbal product purchased was analyzed, by isolating
and identifying microbial contaminants. The microbial properties of some liquid
herbal infective drugs produced and marketed in Enugu, south east Nigeria, the
level of contamination was estimated and also identified. While isolation of
pure culture was done based on morphology, difference where elevation forms,
pigmentation and size were the major distinguishing factors for the major
distinguishing factors for both fungal and bacterial contamination.
1.2 AIM
The overall aim of this work was to culture some
selected herbal mixture sold by clinics, chemists, supermarkets, and streets in
Enugu metropolis for microbial, contamination.
1.3 OBJECTIVES
1)
To isolate microorganisms from the
herbal preparations.
2)
To identify the organisms.
3)
To determine the bacterial load and
fungal load of the preparation.
4)
To compare the bacterial loads of the
different preparations.
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