SummaryNorth Bengal Grey (NBG) cattle are an important indigenous cattle genetic resource found mainly in the northern part of Bangladesh. The study was undertaken at Bogra Sadar, Shibgonj and Kahalu Upazila (sub-district) in the Bogra district. The physical and morphological characteristics, and the productive and reproductive performances of NBG cattle were studied. The coat colour of these animals is deep grey to white. The coat colour of the neck region in adult bulls was found to be generally ashy with a range of shades.The body is small, compact and less fleshy. Ear length and ear width were 18.0±0.17 and 11.0±0.21 cm, respectively. The head length average was 38.0±0.56 cm, the head width 16.0±0.17 cm, the foreleg length average 65.0±0.64 cm, the hind leg length 71.0±0.64 cm, the tail length average 71.0±0.67 cm, the horn length average 9.0±0.39 cm, the horn diameter 10.0±0.37 cm, the average teat length 5.0±0.18 cm, the teat diameter 6.0±0.22 cm, the distance betweenthe front teats 7.0±0.13 cm and the distance between the rear teats 7.0±0.13 cm. Body length, height at wither and heart girth in adult cows were 105.0il.20, 94.0+1.12 and 127.0±1.52 cm, respectively.The recorded highest peak milk production per day was 3.5±0.18 kg, lactation length was 219±6.1 days, and the dry period was 180±6.8 days. The average birth weight of calves was 18.4±0.52 kg and mature live weight of cows 241.0±4.0 kg. The age at first heat was 869±29.6 days, age at first calving 1191±19.7 days, gestation length 281±1.3 days, calving interval 442±7.4 days, postpartum heat period 110±4.2 days and the number of services per conception 1.4±0.6. About 54% of total cattle population was NBG cattle in the surveyed area of Bangladesh. The results indicated that the productive and reproductive performance of NBG cattle was better than other non-descript indigenous cattle of Bangladesh. The study further revealed an obvious need for more in-depth and objective information on wider samples of this type of indigenous cattle in order to assess the future need for conservation and improvement programs to be undertaken.

Infections by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are continuously expanding within the community. Chicken meat is usually contaminated by MRSA, and this contaminated chicken meat is an important source of foodborne infections in humans. In this study, a cross-sectional supershop survey was conducted to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial resistance pattern of MRSA in 113 domestic frozen chicken meat samples purchased from nine branded supershops available in five divisional megacities of Bangladesh. The study also focused on the determination of methicillin resistance gene in MRSA isolates. S. aureus was identified by standard culture-based and molecular methods, and subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing. MRSA was screened by cefoxitin disk diffusion test. Methicillin resistance gene was identified by PCR. Of samples, 54.9% were positive for S. aureus, and, of these, 37.1% isolates were identified as MRSA. All the isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR): 52.2% were resistant to 6–8 antimicrobial classes, and 47.8% isolates to 9–12 classes. Three (3.2%) isolates of S. aureus were possible extensively drug resistant. The highest rates of resistance were observed against cefoxitin (100%), followed by nalidixic acid, ampicillin and oxacillin (97.7%), colistin (91.3%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid and amoxicillin (87%), penicillin-G and cloxacillin (82.6%), oxytetracycline (78.3%), and cefixime (73.9%). Screening of methicillin resistance gene revealed that 43.5% isolates of MRSA were positive for mecA gene. The high prevalence of MDR MRSA in frozen chicken meat samples in this study emphasizes the need for better sanitary education of food handlers in hygienic practices focusing on their potential role as reservoirs and spreaders of MRSA.

Objective: Emergence of colistin-resistant Escherichia coli (CREC) has generated a sense of public alarm. The objective of this study was to detect the CREC and identification of the gene responsible for such resistance. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 samples comprising poultry cloacal swab, house flies ( Musca domestica ), and pond water were collected randomly from Mymensingh, Bangladesh and analyzed. Isolation and identification of E. coli were done based on culture and E. coli 16S rRNA gene-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Phenotypic detection of CREC was done by disk diffusion method. Finally, colistin resistance genes were detected by PCR by using colistin resistant gene mcr3 specific primers. Results: Among the 150 samples, phenotypically 18.00% ( n = 27/150) isolates were found as colistin resistant. By PCR, 8.00% of the E. coli isolates were found positive for the presence of mcr3 gene. Conclusions: Colistin resistant E. coli carrying mcr3 are detected in poultry, house flies and water that are of great public health concern.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL-Ec) in retail chicken meats in Japan. Fifty-six domestic and 50 imported (Brazil, n=36; United States, n=8; Thailand, n=6) chicken meat samples were analyzed. The 162 ESBL-Ec included 111 from 43 (77%) domestic samples and 51 from 26 (52%) Brazilian samples. Fifty-three and 30 of 111 and 51 ESBL-Ec from domestic and Brazilian chickens, respectively, were selected for ESBL genotyping. The blaCTX-M (91%), blaTEM (36%) and blaSHV (15%) genes were detected in ESBL-Ec isolated from domestic chickens, whereas blaCTX-M (100%) and blaTEM (20%) were detected in ESBL-Ec isolated from imported chickens. Among the blaCTX-M group, blaCTX-M-2 (45%) and blaCTX-M-1 (34%) were prevalent in domestic chicken isolates, whereas blaCTX-M-2 (53%) and blaCTX-M-8 (43%) were prevalent in imported chicken isolates. Domestic chicken isolates were mostly resistant to tetracycline (83%), followed by streptomycin (70%) and nalidixic acid (62%). Imported chicken isolates were resistant to streptomycin (77%), followed by nalidixic acid (63%) and tetracycline (57%). Notably, extensive multidrug resistance was detected in 60% (32/53) and 70% (21/30) ESBL-Ec from domestic and imported chickens, respectively. Virulence genes associated with diarrheagenic and extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli were detected in ESBL-Ec isolated from domestic and imported chickens. These data suggest that ESBL-Ec in retail chicken meats could be a potential reservoir for antimicrobial resistance determinants and that some are potentially harmful to humans.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of brucellosis in cattle and in contact human in Veterinary Clinic and Dairy Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) from June 2007 to November 2007. A total of 200 sera samples from cattle and 50 sera samples from human were collected from BAU Veterinary Clinic and USDA funded Red Chittagong cattle project at BAU Dairy Farm. Questionnaire based data on risk factors were collected both in cattle and in contact human. Sera were separated from blood samples and tested with the Rose Bengal Test (RBT) and Standard Tube Agglutination Test (STAT) parallely. Multiple logistic regression was used to identify risk factors of brucellosis both in cattle and in contact human using SPSS®. The overall seroprevalence of brucellosis in cattle and in contact human were found 4.5% and 6% respectively. Statistically insignificant higher seroprevalence of brucellosis was found in cattle aged above 4 years and in human aged above 30 years, in Red Chittagong cattle of BAU dairy farm, in female of cattle and in male of human, in cattle with grazing, in pregnant cows, in animal owner and in human with smoking.