EVALUATING THE SENSITIVITY OF PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA, ESCHERICHIA COLI AND SALMONELLA TYPHI TO VARIOUS BRANDS OF AMPICILLIN AND AMOXICILLIN AVAILABLE IN NIGERIA

The failure of antimicrobial agents in the treatment of some ailments has become a great concern to health care practitioners. This could be as a result of low quality drugs, sneaked into the market by those who fake them, thus, this study was carried out to evaluate the sensitivity of various brands of Amoxicillin and Ampicillin on clinical isolates of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi. The test organisms were clinical bacterial isolates obtained from clinical samples from four hospitals/laboratories in Delta State, Nigeria. The antibiotics were subjected to two fold serial dilution method to determine the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) from which the sensitivity of the isolates to the various brands of the antibiotics was determined. The result showed that the sensitivity of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi to the various brands of Amoxicillin are 54, 62 and 68% respectively. The result also revealed that the sensitivity of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella typhi to Ampicillin are 64, 64 and 70% respectively. The result further indicates that a mean sensitivity of the isolates to Amoxicillin was 61%, while the mean sensitivity to Ampicillin was obtained as 66%. The study has therefore established the need for a routine evaluation of antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals in the Nigerian markets.