Bacterial and heavy metal contamination in selected commonly sold herbal medicine in Blantyre, Malawi.
Bacillus
/ isolation & purification
Bacteria
/ isolation & purification
Cadmium
/ analysis
Citrobacter
/ isolation & purification
Cross-Sectional Studies
Drug Contamination
/ statistics & numerical data
Herbal Medicine
Humans
Lead
/ analysis
Malawi
Metals, Heavy
/ analysis
Plant Preparations
/ chemistry
Plants, Medicinal
/ chemistry
Spectrophotometry, Atomic
/ methods
Bacteria
Blantyre markets
Contamination
Heavy metal
Herbal medicine
WHO guidelines
Journal
Malawi medical journal : the journal of Medical Association of Malawi
ISSN: 1995-7270
Titre abrégé: Malawi Med J
Pays: Malawi
ID NLM: 9500170
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
09 2020
09 2020
Historique:
entrez:
25
1
2021
pubmed:
26
1
2021
medline:
12
2
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
There has been an increase in use of herbal medicine worldwide. It is either used as a stand-alone or complementary therapy to conventional medicine due to past good experience, poverty and family traditions. In Malawi, there are no regulations governing the supply, acquisition, marketing and quality enforcement of herbal medicine. This compromises its safety thereby exposing consumers to avoidable bacteria and heavy metals leading to various adverse health effects. Cross-sectional laboratory experiments were conducted to determine bacterial and heavy metal contamination of herbal medicine commonly sold in Blantyre, Malawi. A total of 47 samples which were in three formulations namely liquid, powder and tablet were used in the experiments. 29 samples were used for bacterial limit tests and 18 samples were used for heavy metal analysis. Bacterial contamination was determined by streak plate method and biochemical tests while heavy metals were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were calculated using Microsoft excel and SPSS software programs. Twenty out of the 29 samples (68.9%) were contaminated with Levels of bacterial and lead contamination in herbal medicine from Blantyre markets are far above acceptable limits set by WHO and Canadian guidelines. The use of these herbal medicines is a major risk to the health of consumers.
Sections du résumé
Background
There has been an increase in use of herbal medicine worldwide. It is either used as a stand-alone or complementary therapy to conventional medicine due to past good experience, poverty and family traditions. In Malawi, there are no regulations governing the supply, acquisition, marketing and quality enforcement of herbal medicine. This compromises its safety thereby exposing consumers to avoidable bacteria and heavy metals leading to various adverse health effects.
Methods
Cross-sectional laboratory experiments were conducted to determine bacterial and heavy metal contamination of herbal medicine commonly sold in Blantyre, Malawi. A total of 47 samples which were in three formulations namely liquid, powder and tablet were used in the experiments. 29 samples were used for bacterial limit tests and 18 samples were used for heavy metal analysis. Bacterial contamination was determined by streak plate method and biochemical tests while heavy metals were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were calculated using Microsoft excel and SPSS software programs.
Results
Twenty out of the 29 samples (68.9%) were contaminated with
Conclusion
Levels of bacterial and lead contamination in herbal medicine from Blantyre markets are far above acceptable limits set by WHO and Canadian guidelines. The use of these herbal medicines is a major risk to the health of consumers.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33488987
doi: 10.4314/mmj.v32i3.8
pmc: PMC7812145
doi:
Substances chimiques
Metals, Heavy
0
Plant Preparations
0
Cadmium
00BH33GNGH
Lead
2P299V784P
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
153-159Informations de copyright
© 2020 The College of Medicine and the Medical Association of Malawi.
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