ANTIMICROBIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY OF COMMON PATHOGENS ISOLATED FROM PAEDIATRIC COUGH SYRUPS IN PORT HARCOURT METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Nkechi Obiofu Ezenobi*, Hanson Ige Ogbu, Dumle Tina Kpea

ABSTRACT

The undesirable presence of certain types of microbes and their metabolites in pharmaceutical products like syrups are increasingly becoming a matter of public health concern. The issues involved are not just localized but have become global because of the consequences of treating patients with contaminated products. Patients may have secondary infection from pathogenic organisms, which can complicate treatment procedures especially for those with compromised immunity or whose immune systems are not well developed. The study was designed to test the susceptibility of pathogens isolated from cough syrups sold in Port Harcourt metropolis, south-south Nigeria. A total of fifty cough syrups were randomly purchased from approved pharmacy outlets and subjected to microbiological assessment. Other test performed were pH, stability, resistance-susceptibility on the isolates using standard procedures. The result indicated that 70 % of the cough syrup were not contaminated while 30 % were contaminated and the microbial load above the acceptable limits (<102 and <101 CFU/mL for bacteria and fungi respectively) as specified by USP. The major contaminants were Staphylococcus aureus, (35.29 %), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (29.43 %), Escherichia coli (11.76 %), Candida albicans (11.76 %), Klebsiella pneumoniae (5.88 %) and Proteus species (5.88 %). The pH value ranged from 2.76 to 7.40 with 96 % of the being acidic. For stability, 4 out of 50 samples failed the test. Susceptibility results showed that the isolates had single and multiple drug resistant patterns to the antibiotics used. The presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms poses serious health concern, hence the need for a routine microbiological assessment to encourage good manufacturing practice.

Keywords: Antimicrobial, Susceptibility, Contamination, Pathogens, Paediatrics, Cough syrup.