Microbiological Quality of Blister Pack Tablets in Community Pharmacies in Jordan

Purpose: To investigate the microbiological quality of blister-packed tablets manufactured and marketed in Jordan in order to assess Good Manufacturing Practice by pharmaceutical industries in the country.Methods: A total of 66 items of 22 registered blister-packed tablet brands were purchased from community pharmacies in Amman. All the items were investigated for total bacterial count and the presence of specified microorganisms using compendial procedures.Results: Out of 66 items purchased, forty eight (72.7 %) products were free from microbial contamination, while 11 (16.7 %) harbored bacteria in counts < 102 cfu/g. The remaining 7 (10.6 %) items contained counts between 102 and < 103 cfu/g. The most commonly encountered contaminant was Bacillus species but specified objectionable bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aereus were not detected. Aspergillus and Penicillium species were isolated in low numbers from few products. Six of the products with the highest stratified bacterial count were manufactured by one company and were also found to be contaminated with Aeromonas species.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that blister-packed tablets produced by Jordanian pharmaceutical companies are within acceptable microbiological quality but the detection of microbial load in some brands close to the maximum allowable limit suggests the need for better adherence to GMP in the country.Keywords: Blister pack, Community pharmacy, Good Manufacturing Practice, Microbial contamination,Quality control, Tablet

Susceptibility of Some Bacterial Contaminants Recovered from Commercial Cosmetics in Jordan to Preservatives and Antibiotics

Purpose: To investigate the susceptibility of bacterial contaminants recovered from cosmetics to preservatives and antibiotics.Methods: Nine bacterial isolates recovered from various brands of commercially available cosmetics marketed in Jordan were tested for their susceptibility pattern against two paraben esters and two formaldehyde donors in addition to nine commonly used antibiotics. The biocidal effect for three preservatives was tested at 0.2 % concentration while the fourth was determined at a strength of 0.3 %. Antibiotic sensitivity test was carried out using standard disc diffusion method.Results: Isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exhibited high resistance pattern to most of the tested preservatives and antibiotics; only one isolate was sensitive to imidazolidinyl urea while others were resistant to the 4 preservatives tested. Each of these isolates exhibited resistance to at least 5 antibiotics. Other organisms, including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, were resistant to the class of preservatives used in the various formulations from which they were recovered and demonstrated resistance to fewer antibiotics. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most sensitive to both categories of antimicrobials used. One isolate was sensitive to all preservatives whereas the same isolate was resistant to only co-trimoxazole. Ciprofloxacin and norfloxacin demonstrated the highest in vitro antimicrobial effect against the contaminants investigated.Conclusion: The bacterial contaminants of cosmetics exhibited variable cross resistance between preservatives and antibiotics. This cross resistance was species- and even strain-specific.Keywords: Antibiotic, Bacterial contaminant, Cosmetics, Preservative, Resistance