Members of Bangladesh Armed Forces work in two different malaria endemic area, Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in Bangladesh and Sub-Saharan countries in Africa. This under-recognized group remained unexplored for long in respect to drug resistant falciparum malaria they usually suffer from. In this study, a total of 252 ‘dried blood samples on filter paper’ were collected between November 2014 and February 2016, from Plasmodium falciparum positive Bangladeshi troops working in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT), Bangladesh and five Sub Saharan African Countries namely, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia, Mali and Ivory Coast. After DNA extraction from all these samples (94 from Bangladesh and 138 from African countries), plasmodium species was confirmed by a nested PCR following standard protocol with minor modifications. Thereafter, a multiplex nested PCR followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method was employed to investigate the presence of chloroquine resistance marker ‘K76T mutation’ in P. falciparum chloroquine resistance transporters (pfcrt) gene and lumifantrine and mefloquine resistance marker ‘N86Y mutation’ in P. falciparum multidrug resistance1 (pfmdr1) gene. The P. falciparum DNA was confirmed in 35 (37.23%) Bangladeshi and 45 (28.48%) African samples. The ‘pfcrt (K76T) mutation’ that confers resistance to chloroquine, was detected in 93.10% Bangladeshi and 29.27% African samples. The ‘pfmdr1 (N86Y) mutation’ that confers resistance to lumifantrine and mefloquine, was detected in 20.69% Bangladeshi and only 2.44% African samples. The higher prevalence of chloroquine resistance of P. falciparum in Bangladesh than in African countries revealed that possible withdrawal of chloroquine from endemic areas and also periodic molecular survey to monitor pf resistance to chloroquine, mefloquine, lumefantrine and artemisinin among these troops working in both endemic areas. Bangladesh J Microbiol, Volume 37 Number 1 June 2020, pp 1-6

Escherichia coli is one of the most important clinical pathogens that demonstrate antibiotic resistance through their -lactamase activity. The present study reflected on the presence of -lactam antibiotic resistance in clinical samples. Antibiotic resistance patterns of 20 clinical isolates of Escherichia coli against -lactam antibiotics were investigated. These isolates were collected from a hospital in Dhaka city and MIC values were determined against Imipenem, Cefotaxime and Ceftriaxone. In case of Ceftriaxone the highest MIC was >4096 µg/mL for 50% isolates with a minimum MIC of 1 µg/ml for 10% isolates. In case of Cefotaxime, MIC values ranged between 1 µg/ml and >4096 µg/ml for 20% and 10% isolates, respectively. In contrast, 80% of the isolates had an MIC of Imipenem at 1 µg/mL with only 5% isolate having MIC of 8 µg/mL. Eight out of 20 (40%) isolates were ESBL producers, 14 (70%) were -lactamase producers. Two isolates exhibited ESBL activity against Cefotaxime and Ceftriaxone, 3 against only Cefotaxime and 3 against only Ceftriaxone. Ceftriaxone resistance in 10 randomly picked isolates was found to be stable for 21days in stability assay. Considering the findings of the present study, it appears that Imipenem still remains the drug of choice for E. coli infections; alternatively, combination therapy may be prescribed. In vitro stability of Ceftriaxone resistance raises concern from a public health point of view as this may aid antibiotic resistance transfer to other bacteria in the environment.