*1Onipede, J. A., 2Morka, E., 1Adeleye, O. R., and 3Onipede, O. M.
Abstract:
Background: Datura stramonium, commonly known as Jimson weed, is widely recognized in traditional medicine, and is a key ingredient in various herbal concoctions. Aside from the well-known herbal formulation, a cocktail made from Datura stramonium, known locally as ‘gegemu’, has become increasingly popular among students in our environment, raising concerns about its microbial quality. The fact that this cocktail is not commercially available raises the possibility of contamination by pathogenic microorganisms during preparation or storage, posing significant health risk. The objective of this study was to assess the microbial quality of this cocktail drink and determine the antimicrobial susceptibility of the bacteria isolates.
Methodology: Because this cocktail is not commercially available, a purposive sampling technique was adopted to collect 10 samples of the ‘gegemu’ cocktail from students in three selected tertiary institutions within Abeokuta metropolis, Nigeria. The samples were transported in ice packs to the biology laboratory of the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, Nigeria for microbial analysis. The pH of the samples was determined using pH meter. Samples were cultured on plate count, nutrient, Salmonella-Shigella, Eosin Methylene Blue (EMB) and MacConkey agar plates using pour plate method for heterotrophic count. Isolated bacteria were identified by conventional methods as described in Bergey’s Manual of Systematic Bacteriology. Antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) was performed against 9 antibiotics using the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Results: The mean pH of the samples was 3.705±0.005 with a range of 3.25±0.02 to 4.11±0.02. All samples were contaminated, with heterotrophic count ranging from mean value of 5.8±0.09×105 for sample G4 to 7.9± 0.24×106 CFU/ml for sample G8, which exceed the acceptable limit of bacteria content of drinks safe for consumption. A total of 30 bacteria isolates were recovered from the samples, and this includes Staphylococcus aureus (n=6), Staphylococcus epidermidis (n=2), Bacillus cereus (n=3), Shigella flexneri (n=3), Salmonella Typhi (n=4), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=3), Escherichia coli (n=4), Klebsiella pneumoniae (n=3) and Vibrio cholerae (n=2). The AST results indicated that E. coli was 99.4% sensitive to cefixime but only 10.7% to tetracycline, S. flexneri was 91.7% sensitive to gentamicin but only 21.6% to cefuroxime, S. Typhi was 100.0% sensitive to cefixime but only 19.1% to tetracycline, V. cholerae was 88.3% sensitive to cefixime but only 32.6% to ampicillin, S. aureus was 85.9% sensitive to cotrimoxazole but only 16.4% to tetracycline, and S. epidermidis was 92.4% sensitive to cotrimoxazole but only 23.7% to tetracycline. Other isolates such as K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa and B. cereus displayed varying levels of resistance to tetracycline and ampicillin.
Conclusion: Our study indicates that in spite of the acidity of the ‘gegemu’ cocktail, it contains pathogenic bacteria that exceeded the acceptable microbial thresholds, rendering it unsafe for consumption. Additionally, some of the isolated bacteria showed resistance to tetracycline and ampicillin, which are common antibiotics used in our environment. It is essential to enhance public health awareness to address and reduce these risks.
Keywords: bacteriological, heterotrophic count,‘gegemu’, cocktail, antimicrobial resistance
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