Md. Abu Sayeed

BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing concern globally, but the impact is very deleterious in the context of Bangladesh. Recent review article on the AMR issue demonstrates the scenario in human medicine; unfortunately, no attempt was taken to address this as One Health issue. The antimicrobial resistance bacteria or genes are circulating in the fragile ecosystems and disseminate into human food chain through direct or indirect ways. In this systematic review we are exploring the mechanism or the process of development of resistance pathogen into human food chain via the domestic animal, wildlife and environmental sources in the context of One Health and future recommendation to mitigate this issue in Bangladesh. RESULTS: Tetracycline resistance genes were presenting in almost all sample sources in higher concentrations against enteric pathogen Escherichia coli. The second most significant antibiotics are amino-penicillin that showed resistant pattern across different source of samples. It is a matter of concerns that cephalosporin tends to acquire resistance in wildlife species that might be an indication of this antibiotic resistance gene or the pathogen been circulating in our surrounding environment though the mechanism is still unclear. CONCLUSIONS: Steps to control antibiotic release and environmental disposal from all uses should be immediate and obligatory. There is a need for detailed system biology analysis of resistance development in-situ.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging and rapidly evolving profound pandemic, which causes severe acute respiratory syndrome and results in significant case fatality around the world including Bangladesh. We conducted this study to assess how COVID-19 cases clustered across districts in Bangladesh and whether the pattern and duration of clusters changed following the country's containment strategy using Geographic information system (GIS) software. We calculated the epidemiological measures including incidence, case fatality rate (CFR) and spatiotemporal pattern of COVID-19. We used inverse distance weighting (IDW), Geographically weighted regression (GWR), Moran's I and Getis-Ord Gi* statistics for prediction, spatial autocorrelation and hotspot identification. We used retrospective space-time scan statistic to analyse clusters of COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 has a CFR of 1.4%. Over 50% of cases were reported among young adults (21-40 years age). The incidence varies from 0.03 - 0.95 at the end of March to 15.59-308.62 per 100,000, at the end of July. Global Moran's Index indicates a robust spatial autocorrelation of COVID-19 cases. Local Moran's I analysis stated a distinct High-High (HH) clustering of COVID-19 cases among Dhaka, Gazipur and Narayanganj districts. Twelve statistically significant high rated clusters were identified by space-time scan statistics using a discrete Poisson model. IDW predicted the cases at the undetermined area, and GWR showed a strong relationship between population density and case frequency, which was further established with Moran's I (0.734; p ≤ 0.01). Dhaka and its surrounding six districts were identified as the significant hotspot whereas Chattogram was an extended infected area, indicating the gradual spread of the virus to peripheral districts. This study provides novel insights into the geostatistical analysis of COVID-19 clusters and hotspots that might assist the policy planner to predict the spatiotemporal transmission dynamics and formulate imperative control strategies of SARS-CoV-2 in Bangladesh. The geospatial modeling tools can be used to prevent and control future epidemics and pandemics.

Diverse coronavirus (CoV) strains can infect both humans and animals and produce various diseases. CoVs have caused three epidemics and pandemics in the last two decades, and caused a severe impact on public health and the global economy. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to understand the emergence and evolution of endemic and emerging CoV diversity in humans and animals. For diverse bird species, the Infectious Bronchitis Virus is a significant one, whereas feline enteric and canine coronavirus, recombined to produce feline infectious peritonitis virus, infects wild cats. Bovine and canine CoVs have ancestral relationships, while porcine CoVs, especially SADS-CoV, can cross species barriers. Bats are considered as the natural host of diverse strains of alpha and beta coronaviruses. Though MERS-CoV is significant for both camels and humans, humans are nonetheless affected more severely. MERS-CoV cases have been reported mainly in the Arabic peninsula since 2012. To date, seven CoV strains have infected humans, all descended from animals. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2) are presumed to be originated in Rhinolopoid bats that severely infect humans with spillover to multiple domestic and wild animals. Emerging alpha and delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 were detected in pets and wild animals. Still, the intermediate hosts and all susceptible animal species remain unknown. SARS-CoV-2 might not be the last CoV to cross the species barrier. Hence, we recommend developing a universal CoV vaccine for humans so that any future outbreak can be prevented effectively. Furthermore, a One Health approach coronavirus surveillance should be implemented at human-animal interfaces to detect novel coronaviruses before emerging to humans and to prevent future epidemics and pandemics.

The effect of long-distance transport on cattle health has not frequently been studied in Bangladesh. The current study investigated the health conditions, and the extent and pattern of cattle injuries, along with haemato-biochemical and hormonal changes, before and after long-distance transportation (≈648 km) from the market of origin to the market of destination. A total of 100 adult cattle were selected at the Benapole live cattle market, Bangladesh, for physical examination before and after transportation. Fifty of these cattle were randomly selected for additional haemato-biochemical evaluation just before the start of transportation (0 hour), immediately after arrival at the destination market (13.8±0.9 hours after the start of transportation) and 24 hours after arrival at the destination market. The external health conditions and injuries were assessed. Animals were fasting in the vehicle during transportation and provided only with paddy straw and water before sale at the destination market. Before and after transportation, the overall frequency of cattle injuries varied significantly (26 per cent before v 47 per cent after transportation; P<0.001). Cattle health conditions diverged significantly (such as nasal discharge: 15 per cent v 28 per cent; P=0.03). The values of haemoglobin (P=0.01), total erythrocyte count (P=0.001), total leucocyte count (P<0.001), lymphocyte (P=0.005), neutrophil (P=0.01) and eosinophil (P=0.01) varied significantly. The values of serum total protein (P=0.006), creatine kinase (P<0.001), triglyceride (P=0.04), calcium (P=0.003), phosphorus (P<0.001) and alkaline phosphatase (P=0.04) significantly differed. The overall findings indicate a high degree of transport stress and poor animal welfare.