Bacteriological Screening of Paediatric Cough Syrups Marketed Within Port Harcourt Metropolis, South-South Nigeria

Abstract

Non-adherence to good manufacturing practice alongside improper handling during dispensing, packaging and inadequate post-marketing surveillance of pharmaceutical products accounts to product’s deterioration reduced therapeutic effect and adversely affects patient’s safety especially the paediatrics. This study evaluates the microbiological quality of various brands of paediatric cough syrups marketed and used within Port Harcourt metropolis. Twenty cough syrup brands were experimented on in duplicate, coded as USS and UNS (used and unused respectively). They were subjected to organoleptic assessment, pH, viscosity, total aerobic viable count, as well as resistance- susceptibility test of isolates using standard conventional techniques. Results showed viscosity value of 0.22 - 9.09 Pascal seconds (Pa.s), pH values of 3.13 - 8.34 across the UNS and USS categories respectively. While 80% of the UNS cough syrup samples were free from potential microbial threat, 20% fraction and all USS cough syrup (100%) samples were contaminated with objectionable microorganisms and non- compliant with USP permissible limit. The potentially pathogenic isolates were Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, demonstrating varied resistance pattern to exposed antibiotic categories. Microbial contamination might have been caused by poor quality control and improper handling of the products during use. This calls for more stringent measures during product manufacturing and handling to ensure patient’s safety and forestall possible transference of resistance strain.

Microbial and physical evaluation of selected cough syrups sold at peripheral drug outlets in Bushenyi District, South Western Uganda

“…Three brands; DS, K, and Z were easily complaint with BP requirements for microbiological quality for E. coli while brand P was barely compliant as the CFU/mL were at the upper acceptance limit. The presence of E. coli in cough syrups has also been reported in other studies carried out in Bangladesh (Mamun et al, 2014) and Nigeria (Mamun et al, 2014;Ibezim et al, 2018) where levels of 17% and 22% respectively were observed in the samples. However, the prevalence of E. coli contamination in this study was lower than that reported by both Mamun et al in Dhaka and Ibezim et al in Port Harcourt. Non-aqueous and aqueous pharmaceutical preparations for oral use should not contain E. coli as per the BP microbiological quality requirements for pharmaceuticals.…”

“…Thus it is crucial that the syrups being offered on the market are free of microbes. The occurrence of total viable microbial counts above the recommended limits may be attributed to crosscontamination (Ibezim et al, 2018;Mugoyela and Mwambete, 2010) which could have been exacerbated by the lack of preservatives in the formulations. Deficiencies in the use of preservatives increase proneness to deterioration of syrups (Bassat et al, 2015).…”

“…Syrups are prone to microbial contamination, the most common microbial contaminants being bacteria and fungi. Bacterial contaminants include Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus epidermidis (Ibezim et al, 2018;Mamun et al, 2014;Mugoyela and Mwambete, 2010;Tukur et al, 2012). On the other hand, fungal contaminants include Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus fumigatus (Tukur et al, 2012;Na'was et al, 1990).…”

Effect of Sub-Inhibitory Concentrations of Flucloxacillin or Clindamycin and Plasma on Staphylococcus aureus Clinical Isolate

“…Sterilization was by autoclaving at 121 °C for 15 min and maintained in molten as previously described. [23][24][25]…”