THE MICROBIAL QUALITY OF SOME SELECTED ORAL LIQUID PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS
THE MICROBIAL QUALITY OF SOME SELECTED ORAL LIQUID PHARMACEUTICAL PREPARATIONS
No Thumbnail Available
Date
1994-05
Authors
BOLAJI, REBECCA OLAJUMOKE
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The microbial quality of some commonly prescribed oral liquid preparations
namely Paracetamol, Multivitamins and Cough mixtures from three different
companies (1, 2, 3; 1, 2', 3' and 1, 2", 3") obtained from pharmaceutical
chemists located within Kaduna and Zaria were analysed during the two
prevalent seasons (harmattan and heat) in this part of the country. The
analysis involved the determination of the microbial load in the syrups by
viable cell counting, determination of pH at the beginning of harmattan
season and at the end of heat season, and identification of some of the
isolated organisms. The analysed samples were purchased as dispensed by
the manufacturers ready for consumer use.
The bacteria flora detected include Staph, aureus.. E. coli, and Bacillus
species, while the mould/yeast include Aspergillus niger. Aspergillus
flavus, Cladosporium Aautianux.. Cladosporiux wernikii.. Penicillium
species, Curvularia species, Rhodotorulla species, Mucor, yeast as well as
Ascoxycetes species. Generally, the bacterial load was higher during the
heat season compared to the harmattan whereas the mould/yeast count were
higher during the harmattan season. The bacterial cell count obtained for
the Paracetamol syrups ranged from 1.0 x 102 - 6.5 x 102 cfu/ml for the
harmattan season and 1.5 - 5.2 x 103 cfu/ml for the heat season.
Multivitamins syrups, the bacteria cell count range was 3.5 x 102 - 6.5 x
102 cfu/ml during the harmattan season and 5.0 x 103 - 6.5 x 102 cfu/ml
during the heat season. The Cough syrups had a count range of 1.0 x 102 -
1.2 103 cfu/ml during harmattan season and zero 2.6 x 103 during the heat
season.
For the mould/yeast, however, the count obtained for Paracetamol syrups
ranged from 0.5 x 102 spu/ml during the harmattan and 0.2 x 102 - 4.5 x
102 spu/ml during the heat season. For Multivitamins syrups, the count
ranged from 3.0 - 7.0 x 102 spu/ml during harmattan season and 1.0 x 102 -
5.5 x 102 spu/ml during the heat season. The Cough syrups had a
mould/yeast count range of 1.0 x 102 - 1.0 x 103 spu/ml during harmattan
and 0.1 x 102 - 7.5 x 102 spu/ml during the heat season.
However, there were batch to batch differences recorded as three different
batches from each company were analysed. The pH at the beginning of the
analysis (harmattan season) were mainly on the acidic level and this
shifted towards the alkaline level at the end of the period of analysis
(heat season). It was observed that the microbial load was not directly
associated with changes in pH.
The result of this work has demonstrated that, the samples analysed
actually contained microbial contaminants right from the manufacturer and
that the seasons do affect the microbial load due to the changes that
occur in the storage temperature and the resulting effect of this
microbial contaminants may lead to spoilage as well as unacceptability of
products and subsequent health hazards on the consumers. Therefore, there
is the need for manufacturers to adhere strictly to good manufacturing
practices, and good storage facilities should be provided in each
pharmaceutical premises.
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello
university, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of
Master of Science
(Pharmaceutical Microbiology)
Faculty of Pharmaceutical sciences, Ahmadu Bello university,
Zaria.
Keywords
MICROBIAL,, QUALITY,, SELECTED,, ORAL,, LIQUID,, PHARMACEUTICAL,, PREPARATIONS