Abstract
Author(s): K.Rajapandiyan*, S.Shanthi and S.Vidya
The increase in the consumption of natural drugs has made their use a Public Health problem due to the possibility of access to products without adequate conditions of use. These natural drugs have the potential of contamination with different microorganisms. This is due to raw materials contamination and unhygienic production conditions. In this study, microbiological quality of some marketed herbal drugs from public markets, in the city of Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India was examined. 12 different herbal medicines were evaluated for microbial contamination by USP (United States Pharmacopoeia) microbial limit test for enumeration and identification. Total aerobic count showed that most of the marketed herbal drugs had above WHO bacteriological limit. Isolation and identification of microbes showed that the samples were contaminated with more than one bacterial pathogens such as S.aureus, E.coli, P.aeuroginosa, Shigellasp andSalmonellasp. This study is clinically significant because most of the herbal medicines which are sold in Trichy market for herbal medications that are highly contaminated with potentially pathogenic bacterial flora due to poor quality control and preparation standards.