Identification of bacterial contaminants in polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis in Amatole District of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, using rapid 16S rRNA technique

Abstract

BackgroundPolyherbal medicines are used for the treatment of many diseases in many African and Asian communities. With the increasing use of these remedies, several investigations have shown that they are associated with a broad variety of residues and contaminants. This study investigates the presence of bacteria in the polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.MethodsBacterial DNA was extracted from the polyherbal medicines, and a fragment of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified by PCR with universal primers 27F and 518R. The amplicons were visualised on agarose gel electrophoresis, followed by end repair and adaptor ligation. They were further purified and quantified using Library Preparation kit NEBNext® UltraT DNA Library Prep Kit for Illumina, and the amplicons were run on illumina’s MiSeq platform.ResultsDifferent bacterial species were identified in all each of the polyherbal medicines. Generally, the most prominent and common bacteria recovered from all the samples were Bacillus sp., Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella sp., Rahnella sp., Paenibacillus sp., Clostridium sp. and Pantoea sp. Others are Pseudomonas sp., Raoultella ornithinolytica, Salmonella enterica and Eubacterium moniliforme.ConclusionsThis study, thus, revealed the presence of pathogenic and non-pathogenic bacteria in the polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of tuberculosis in the study area. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the health care of the patients of tuberculosis in the study area, having in mind that they are immunocompromised individuals.

Surgical Site Infection by Salmonella Typhimurium Following Breast Cancers Surgery & Topical Herbal Medicine Use: A Case Report & Review of the Literature

“…[1], but rarely can be caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella spp. In the literature several studies revealed the presence of pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella enterica in the polyherbal medicines used for the treatment of different pathology [10]. In our case, we think that applying possibly contaminated herbal mixtures to the wound was the source of infection by Salmonella enterica.…”

Microbial contamination in herbal medicines: a serious health hazard to elderly consumers

“…Br (Cidreira) and Peumus boldus Molina (Boldo) were the most common. These herbal medicines are consumed not only because of their therapeutic properties for the gastrointestinal tract [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] but also because of their calming and relaxing effects, which makes them multifunctional herbs. Generally, herbal medicines are used for treating simple diseases, such as digestive or respiratory diseases and general pain, whereas synthetic medicines are primarily used for blood pressure problems, general pain, and endocrine and nutritional diseases [26].…”

“…Briefly, serial dilutions were made, and viability was assessed using the pour plate method on tryptic soy agar (KASVI®) or Sabouraud dextrose agar (KASVI®) for bacterial counts and fungal identification, respectively. All dehydrated media were prepared according to the manufacturer's instructions and seeded and incubated at 37°C for 2-5 days for bacterial screening and at 25°C for 5-7 days for fungal screening [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. At the end of the incubation period, the number of colony-forming units per gram (CFU/g) was calculated by multiplying the average number of colonies by the dilution factor.…”

“…As a result, the presence of microbial contaminants in herbal products can adversely affect the health status of consumers due to their immunocompromised conditions and microbial infections, creating a health problem throughout the world. Therefore, the safety of consumers of herbal products is of the utmost importance [14], especially in elderly populations.…”

Draft Genome Sequence of Bacillus sp. Strain YSP-3, a Halophilic, Alkaliphilic Bacterium Isolated from a Salt Lake

“…A library for genome sequencing was constructed using the NEBNext Ultra DNA library prep kit for Illumina (5). The genome sequence was obtained using an Illumina HiSeq 4000 sequencing platform with a paired-end read length of 2 × 150 bp at approximately 240× coverage and de novo assembled using MicrobeTrakr plus v. 0.9.1 (http://microbetracker.org/).…”