Abstract
Pharmaceutical products (non-sterile) are faced with the challenges of not exceeding the minimum limit of microbial presence tolerated for the respective formulations. Antacid suspensions which are multi-dose drug products that are utilized in the neutralization of gastric acid. This drug with neutral pH makes them to be liable to microbial contamination. This study was conducted to evaluate antacid suspensions marketed in Delta State, Nigeria based on their microbial quality. Six different brands of antacid suspensions were collected from different Pharmacies in Delta state and were analysed microbiologically to isolate and quantify the implicated bacteria and fungi using conventional cultural and biochemical techniques. The microbiological evaluation of these samples was determined using the agar-well diffusion method. Five out of the six brands evaluated were found to be populated with a hugenumber of bacteria (2.5 x 102 to > 2.2 x 102 CFU/ml) and fungi (2 x 102 to 8 x 102 CFU/ml). Staphylococcus aureus was absent in any of the antacids brands studied. However, there were presence of objectionable microorganisms, Escherichia coli and Candida albicans in three of the six brands. The results of this study reveal the microbial contamination level of some of the antacid (suspensions) marketed in Delta State which may be due to poor adherence to current good manufacturing practice by the manufacturers.
 Keywords: Antacid suspensions, Microorganisms, Microbiological quality, Brands.
Highlights
Pharmaceutical products are faced with the challenges of not exceeding the minimum limit of microbial presence tolerated for the respective formulations
The neutral pH of antacid suspensions makes them to be liable to microbial contamination and growth
The objective of this study is to evaluate the microbiological status of the six different brands of antacids sold in various towns of Delta State, as this will inform the prescribers in this environment the conditions of these antacids sold in this area
Summary
Pharmaceutical products (non-sterile) are faced with the challenges of not exceeding the minimum limit of microbial presence tolerated for the respective formulations. This study was conducted to evaluate antacid suspensions marketed in Delta State, Nigeria based on their microbial quality. Pharmaceutical products include; the source and incidence of microbes in the product, the effect of such contamination on the stability of the product and patients’ health, the levels and types of microbes that may be tolerated (Parker, 1999). The evaluation of such microbial quality is based on qualitative and quantitative tests that are employed to determine the microbial content as well as detection of specified objectionable ones (Biraima et al, 2016). The objective of this study is to evaluate the microbiological status of the six different brands of antacids (suspension) sold in various towns of Delta State, as this will inform the prescribers in this environment the conditions of these antacids sold in this area
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