The Microbial Contamination Of Tablets Dispensed In Hospitals, Community Pharmacies And Patent Medicine Stores In Umuahia City, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Tablets dispensed in hospitals, community pharmacies and Patent Medicine Stores were investigated for microbial load. Bacteria isolated include Bacillus sp, Streptococcus sp, Staphylococcus aureus and Livchcrichia co/i while fungal isolates include Micro.sporuin, A.spergi/lus, irichophylon, I'piderniophyion and Pen/cu//urn species. The Total Heterotrophic Plate Count (Tl-IPC) of the bacteria was in the 1-ange 3.0 x i0 1.6 x 10 and the total fungal count was in the range 2.5 x 10 - 2.0 x l0 among the samples obtained from the hospitals while for the pharmacies, the THPC was in the range 4.8 x105 2.6 x JØ5 and 3.9 x l03.0 x l0 for both bacteria and fungi respectively. For Patent Medicine Stores, the TI-IPC was in the range 5.0x JØ5 3.9 x 10 for the bacteria and 3.8 x 10 3.0 x for the ftingal count. For all the THPC, S. aureus had the highest 1 00% occurrence and Bacillus sp had the least occurrence whereas For the fungal isolates, Aspergillus sp had the highest occurrence and Pen/c/hum sp the least. Dispensers of medicine should observe strict dispensing guidelines that will reduce the bioburden of tablets.