BACTERIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF SOME LIQUID HERBAL PREPARATIONS SOLD WITHIN JOS METROPOLIS, NIGERIA AND ANTIBIOTIC SUSCEPTIBILITY OF THE ISOLATES.

A total of 45 samples of herbal preparation consisting of 15 each of “Maganin Shawara,” Maganin tsusan ciki and “Maganin Basir” claimed to cure typhoid fever, intestinal parasites and pile respectively were analyzed. The isolation, identification and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of bacterial contaminants of the herbal products were carried out using standard procedures. The study was aimed at determining the bacteriological quality of some liquid herbal preparations sold within Jos metropolis, Nigeria and the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolates. The results showed that out of the 45 liquid herbal samples analyzed, 21 (46.67%) were contaminated with Esherichia coli, 8 (17.78%) with Staphylococcus aureus, 6 (13.33%) with Salmonella sp, 7(15.56%) and 3(6.67%) were contaminated with Bacillus sp and Proteus vulgaris respectively. Antibiotic susceptibility tests showed that all the isolates have high level of resistance to the antibiotics used in this study. Findings of this study imply that the herbal preparations are of poor bacteriological quality and may be potential source for the dissemination of multi-drug resistant microorganisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]