Abstract:
This study was conducted to evaluate the microbial contaminants
and presence of toxic heavy metals on some herbal medicines. Twenty-seven
samples (3 kg each) of well-known herbs and 5 kinds of henna available
in herb markets around Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were collected for microbial
and toxic metal contamination. Twenty-one (60%) of the samples showed
the presence of fungi. Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus
were the most common isolates (9/35, 35%). Astralagus sarcocolla
had the highest TPC count; Matricaria chamomilia had the highest
total coliform count and fecal coliform count. Two henna samples showed
more than 1 ppm lead content. Mercury was the highest in Lepidium sativum,
aluminum in Zingiber officinale, calcium in Artemisia herba
alba, cadmium in Lepidium sativum, Vigna radiata and
Zingiber officinale. Copper was the highest in Cinnamomum zeylanicum,
iron in Zingiber officinale, zinc in Salvia officinalis,
potassium in Matricaria chamomilia, whereas sodium was the highest
in Pimpinella anisum. Microbial determination showed that Bacillus
species was seen in 3 (9.7%) of the isolated microorganisms with the
predominance of Bacillus cereus (14/31, 45.2%). Other microbial
isolates were Aeromonas hydrophilia, Shigella spp., Enterobacter
agglomerans, Enterobacter spp., Vibrio fluvialis, Escherichia
coli, Pasteurella multocida, Enterobacter cloacae, Staphylococcus
hyicus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Acinetobacter iwoffii
and Klebsiella. Tests showed the sensitivity of most isolated bacteria
to amoxicillin, gentamicin, imipinem, tobramycin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole.
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