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ABSTRACT
Herbal drugs are plants and plant parts that have been converted into various kinds of medicinal drugs. Most of these herbal drugs have been shown to contain large number of microorganisms which may cause harm to human health. The aim of this study was to investigate the microbial quality of commonly consumed medicinal mixtures over the storage duration. Samples were stored for 72h and analyzed every 24h.Microbial load of the samples was determined using 10- fold serial dilution and pour plate methods. Media used were Nutrient agar for bacterial count and Potato dextrose agar for fungi. Culture characteristics and biochemical tests were used for identification of isolates. The fungal isolates were microscopically examined using lactophenol blue stain. Antibiotic sensitivity was carried out on the bacterial isolates using disc diffusion technique commercially available Gram-positive and Gram-negative antibiotic sensitivity multi-discs were used. The highest bacterial count of 8 .00 ±2.50 × 102 cfu/ml was from sample B under RT at day 0 while the least bacterial count of 0.50 ±0.25 × 102 cfu/ml was from sample C under RT at day 12. The highest fungal count of 1.00 ±0.75 × 102 cfu/ml was from sample A under CT at day 0 while the least fungal count of 0.50 ± 0.25 × 102 cfu/ml was from sample A under CT at day 3 and 6. The identified bacterial isolates were Bacillus cereus , Corynebacterium xerosis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Salmonella spp, Streptococcus pyogenes, Acinetobacter spp, Acinetobacter sppII, Escherichia coli, Neisseria gonorrheae and Clostridium spp. The identified fungal isolates were Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus and Rhizopus spp. The antibiotic sensitivity result revealed that Streptococcus pneumoniae was resistance to all the antibiotics used while Salmonella spp was most susceptible . This study indicated that the herbal preparations are contaminated by bacteria and may cause harm to humans if consumed.
