DETECTION OF ESCHERICHIA COLI FROM NON-STERILE HERBAL PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS FROM THE ROMANIAN MARKET

The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the importance of using rapid microbiological methods, particularly real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), for the rapid detection of Escherichia coli from non-sterile herbal pharmaceutical products available on the Romanian market. For the identification of the potential presence of Escherichia coli in 10 non-sterile drug samples, genomic bacterial DNA has been isolated, amplified and quantified under real-time qPCR conditions. qPCR analysis of 10 analysed samples showed the presence of Escherichia coli in all investigated non-sterile herbal drugs. The highest amount of bacterial DNA was recorded for 2 samples (3.58 ng and 1.66 ng) and the lowest bacterial DNA quantities have been registered for the sample S10 (0.00013 ng). PCR-based methods provided a rapid detection and quantification of bacterial contamination that showed the presence of Escherichia coli in all investigated non-sterile herbal pharmaceutical products.