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 huge
number of bacteria (2.5 x 10
2 to > 2.2 x 10
2 CFU/ml) and fungi (2 x 10
2 to 8 x 10
2 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.
