Introduction: Community-acquired infections due to extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia coli are rising worldwide, resulting in increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs, especially where poor sanitation and inadequate hygienic practices are very common. Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the prevalence and characterization of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and ESBL-producing E. coli in drinking water samples collected from Rohingya camps, Bangladesh. Methods: A total of 384 E. coli isolates were analyzed in this study, of which 203 were from household or point-of-use (POU) water samples, and 181 were from source water samples. The isolates were tested for virulence genes, ESBL-producing genes, antimicrobial susceptibility by VITEK 2 assay, plasmid profiling, and conjugal transfer of AMR genes. Results: Of the 384 E. coli isolates tested, 17% (66/384) were found to be ESBL producers. The abundance of ESBL-producers in source water contaminated with E. coli was observed to be 14% (27/181), whereas, 19% (39/203) ESBL producers was found in household POU water samples contaminated with E. coli. We detected 71% (47/66) ESBL-E. coli to be MDR. Among these 47 MDR isolates, 20 were resistant to three classes, and 27 were resistant to four different classes of antibiotics. Sixty-four percent (42/66) of the ESBL producing E. coli carried 1 to 7 plasmids ranging from 1 to 103 MDa. Only large plasmids with antibiotic resistance properties were found transferrable via conjugation. Moreover, around 7% (29/384) of E. coli isolates harbored at least one of 10 virulence factors belonging to different E. coli pathotypes. Mahmud et al. ESBL-Producing E. coli in Drinking Water Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the drinking water samples analyzed herein could serve as an important source for exposure and dissemination of MDR, ESBL-producing and pathogenic E. coli lineages, which therewith pose a health risk to the displaced Rohingya people residing in the densely populated camps of Bangladesh.

Introduction: In Bangladesh, human sludge from dry pit latrines is commonly applied directly to agricultural lands as manure. This study was conducted to investigate the presence of antibiotic resistance, virulence factors and plasmid contents of E. coli strains isolated from sludge samples. Methodology: E. coli were isolated from human feces from closed pit latrines and identified by culture method. Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the isolates were determined by Standard Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Pathogenic genes and antibiotic resistance genes of ESBL producing isolates were determined by PCR assay. Results: Of the 34 samples tested, 76.5% contained E. coli. Of 72 E. coli isolates, 76.4% were resistant to at least one of the 12 antibiotics tested and 47.2% isolates were resistant to three or four classes of antibiotics. Around 18% isolates were extended spectrum β- lactamase producing and of them 6 were positive for blaTEM specific gene, 4 for blaCTX-M gene, 1 for blaOXA gene and 2 for both blaTEM and blaCTX-M genes. Moreover, among 72 isolates, 4.2% carried virulence genes of enterotoxigenic E. coli; two isolates were positive for st and one was positive for both st and lt genes. In addition, 59.7% of the isolates contained plasmids (range 1.4 to 140 MDa) of which 19.5% isolates contained a single plasmid and 40.2% contained multiple plasmids. Conclusions: The presence of pathogenic, drug resistant E. coli in human sludge necessitates a regular surveillance before using as a biofertilizer.

Microbial fungal cellulases are very important for their applications in biopolishing of textile fibres, in poultry feed and paper and pulp industries. The main purpose of this study was to improve the wild strain Trichoderma viride for enhanced production of cellulase by random mutation technique employing ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and Ethidium bromide (EtBr) treatments. The wild strain exhibited the highest cellulase activity 5.52 U/ml on carboxy methyl cellulose (1.0%) and a comparable activity 4.74 U/ml on wheat bran (1.0%) as substrate under the optimum temperature 30°C and pH 4.0. Upon mutation by UV exposure the fungi produced cellulase 11.28 U/ml where as EtBr treated mutant showed 14.61 U/ml cellulase activities. Both the enzymes from wild and mutant T. viride demonstrated the highest activity at the assay temperature of 40ºC. The enzyme was applied for bio-polishing of jeans at prototype experiment and showed effective result as compared to one of the commercial enzymes.Bangladesh J Microbiol, Volume 30, Number 1-2,June-Dec 2013, pp 43-47

Background: Corticosteroid has been used to manage inflammation caused by many diseases including respiratory viral infections. Many articles are available to support the good and bad side of this steroid use but remain inconclusive. To find some evidence about the safety of the drug, we investigated the effect of corticosteroids on the mortality of patients with respiratory viral infections including SARS-CoV-2, SARS, MERS, and Influenza. Method: We searched articles in PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, Medline, Google Scholar, and Web of Science records using the keywords corticosteroid or viral infection or patients or control study. Mortality was the primary outcome. Result: Our selected 24 studies involving 16633 patients were pooled in our meta-analysis. Corticosteroid use and overall mortality were not significantly associated (P=0.176), but in subgroup analysis, corticosteroid use was significantly associated with lower mortality in the case of SARS (P=0.003) but was not significantly associated with mortality for Influenza (H1N1) (P=0.260) and SARS-CoV-2 (P=0.554). Further analysis using study types of SARS-CoV-2, we found that corticosteroid use was not significantly associated with mortality in the case of retrospective cohort studies (P=0.256) but was significantly associated with lower mortality in the case of randomized control trials (P=0.005). Our findings uncover how the outcome of particular drug treatment for different diseases with comparable pathogenesis may not be similar and, RCTs are sometimes required for robust outcome data. Conclusion: At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, data of corticosteroid use from other viral infections along with COVID-19 observational and retrospective cohort studies created confusion of its effect, but randomized control trials showed that corticosteroid can be used to treat COVID-19 patients.