Journal of Antimicrobial Agents

Drug Resistance in Pathogenic Micro-organisms Isolated from Oral Herbal Medicinal Products and a Survey on the Usage of Herbal Medicine in Bangladesh

Abstract

Samia Quaiyum, Helena Fortunato, Nowshin Farjana and Badrun Nessa

Objectives: The present study was conducted to assess the condition of usage of herbal medicine from a survey study and also the drug resistance of pathogenic microorganisms present in oral herbal medicines in Bangladesh popularly used for different therapeutic purposes. At the consumer level, herbal drugs could be contaminated in various ways and antibiogram testing results can also vary.
Methods: The antibacterial potential of six herbal medicines randomly selected were tested to assess their level of contamination. Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was performed to determine the lowest concentration of each of the herbal medicine against specific microorganisms. Moreover, among the microorganisms isolated from the tested herbal medicines, Klebsiella spp. was tested for measuring the antibiotic susceptibility for different kind of antibiotics.
Results: Number of isolated pathogenic bacteria and the percentage of resistance and susceptibility of isolated pathogens are not negligible for public health.
Conclusion: Authorities need to be more careful when inspecting freely sold herbal medicines in order to avoid possible outbreaks due to contamination of those medicines.