Forensic Investigations of Antibiotic Adulteration in Herbal Medicinal Products sold in Kumasi Metropolis
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2019-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
KNUST
Abstract
Adulterated herbal medicines, are threat to public health, consumer safety, and undermine national health policies with serious economic consequences. In Ghana and most other African countries, herbal medications are commonly used as remedies for a wide variety of conditions and are highly patronized nationwide. However, these medications are also prone to adulterations with a variety of chemicals and substances. In light of this, the present study investigated the adulteration of selected antimicrobial herbal medicines sold in the Kumasi metropolis. In all, 21 samples (5 liquid samples, 6 capsules, 3 powdered samples and 7 creams) were analysed for the presence of four antibiotics using HPLC at the Aflatoxin Laboratory, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Results showed that 71.43% of the
herbal creams were contaminated with at least one of selected antibiotics (trimethoprim,
chloramphenicol, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacillin). Also, 75% of the liquid samples had
various concentrations of the four antibiotics. Furthermore, 42.86% of the powdered samples
had various concentrations of the selected antibiotics while only 16.67% of the herbal capsules
showed adulteration. Thus, some herbal medications on the Ghanaian market contain
antibiotics and therefore proper surveillance is needed to avoid antibiotic abuse which may
subsequently lead to antibiotic resistance.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology,
Faculty of Biosciences, College of Science In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Degree of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN FORENSIC SCIENCES