Contamination of drugs by microorganisms may arise during manufacturing, storage or use by the consumers, and can ultimately result in several undesirable consequences. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of microbial contaminants from commonly administered drugs sold in Lafia Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Two hundred and forty (240) drug samples comprising 80 samples each from tablets, syrups and ointments were sourced from various outlets and analyzed using aseptic standard culture, and serological methods. The result indicates that 13.75% of the samples were contaminated. The prevalence of microorganisms isolated among the drugs types include 17(21.25%), 11(13.58%), and 5(6.25%) for tablets, syrups and ointments respectively. The prevalence of bacterial species isolated from the drugs samples include Escherichia coli (4.58%), Staphylococcus aureus (3.33%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (2.08%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (1.25%), while fungal species include Aspergilus flavus (1.66%) and Aspergilus niger (0.83%). Escherichia coli isolated showed resistance to gentamycin 5(45.50%) and septrin 3(27.30%), while Staphylococcus aureus isolates showed resistance to septrin 2(25.00%) and erythromycin 2(25.00%). The pathogenic and opportunistic pathogens isolated in this study pose a threat to drugs users especially immunocompromised individuals and public health management because the source may not be suspected. Some of the isolates demonstrate multi-drugs resistance to the antibiotics tested. Periodical examination of drugs and antibiogram should be carried out in other to reduce the risk of infections associated with drugs contamination.

Objective: Non-sterile pharmaceutical products are usually subjected to unrestricted handling and are therefore potentially susceptible to postproduction contamination by microorganisms from both handlers and the environment. This study was carried out to determine the microbial quality of some commonly administered non-sterile drug types from hawkers and pharmacy outlets within Lafia Metropolis, Nigeria.: A total of 240 samples Material and methods (80 samples each of tablets, syrups and ointments) were purchased from pharmacies and hawkers' outlets and the microbial load determined using the W.H.O Pharmacopoeia and serological methods.From Results and conclusion: this study, the mean Total Aerobic Bacterial Counts (TABC) and the Mean Total Yeast and Mold Counts (TYMC) had values higher than the W.H.O recommended levels for some syrups and tablets from both pharmacy and hawkers' outlets. The difference in the values among the various outlets and between the drug types were statistically significant at p<0.05. Results of immunoassay indicated that was isolated from 23/120 (19.17%) hawkers' drugs among E. coli which 1/23 (4.35%) was the O157:H7serotype. Similarly, 17/120 (14.17%) hawkers' drugs had Staphylococcus aureus among which 8/17(47.06%) and 6/17(35.27%) were and serotypes respectively while 3/17(17.65%) had no cp5 cp8 capsular antigen ( ). These values were significantly higher (p<0.05) than those obtained from pharmacy outlets. The cpmicrobial qualities of most of the pharmacy products were in accordance with International Pharmacopoeia while some, especially the tablets and syrups from hawkers, exceeded the recommended acceptance limit and might be of health risks to consumers.

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Carbapenemase-producing (CPEC) has been an issue of public health concern due to high resistance to major antibiotics. This pathogen can be acquired through the consumption of contaminated foods. The use of detergents for the control of pathogens in food contact surfaces is commonly practiced by most food vendors. This study is aimed at assessing the efficacy of some commonly used detergents against CPEC from food contact surfaces in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. A total of 924 swab samples from food contact surfaces (246 each from plates, cups and spoons and 186 from tabletops) in various food vending outlets were screened for phenotypic identification of CPEC using Imipenem (30µg) and Meropenem (10µg) antibiotics susceptibility disk diffusion method. Tubes of varying concentrations of test detergents (1:140, 1:160, 1:180, 1:200 and 1:220) were seeded against phenol as standard with varying concentrations of 1:50, 1:60, 1:70 1:80 and 1:90. Hawkers outlets had highest CPEC isolation frequencies among swab samples and isolates with values of 3.33% and 7.70% respectively while cups and spoons surfaces had highest samples (1.63%) and isolates (7.69%) frequencies respectively. Overall CPEC isolation frequencies were 1.30% and 6.00% among the screened samples and isolates respectively. Though there was significant difference (p&#60;0.05) in the frequency values among the vending outlets, the contact surfaces had no significant difference at p&#62;0.05. Highest phenol coefficient value of 2.6 was obtained for MFD while SLD and LPD had 2.3 and 1.7 respectively. The difference in the phenol coefficient values among the detergents were statistically insignificant (p&#62;0.05). All detergents used in this study were effective against CPEC isolated from the food contact surfaces. Using locally produced detergents in appropriate concentrations especially for low-income earners is quite promising and is a good alternative to other branded detergents.