Emergence of multidrug-resistant Bacillus spp. derived from animal feed, food and human diarrhea in South-Eastern Bangladesh

Background Antimicrobial resistance poses a huge risk to human health worldwide, while Bangladesh is confronting the most severe challenge between the food supply and the huge consumption of antibiotics annually.

More importantly, probiotics containing Bacillus spp. are claimed to be an alternative to antimicrobial stewardship programs.

However, their antibiotic resistance remains elusive.

Thus, we employed the antimicrobial susceptibility test and PCR to assess the prevalence of resistance, including multidrug resistance (MDR) and resito-genotyping of isolated Bacillus spp.

Results The phenotypic profile showed that Bacillus spp. were 100% sensitive to gentamicin (2 µg/mL), whereas lowered sensitivity to levofloxacin (67.8%, 0.5–1 µg/mL), ciprofloxacin (62.3%, 0.5–1 µg/mL), clindamycin (52.2%, 0.25–0.5 µg/mL), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (37.6%, 0.06 µg/mL), azithromycin (33.4%, 1–2 µg/mL), tetracycline (25.6%, 2–4 µg/mL), nitrofurantoin (21.1%, 16–32 µg/mL), co-trimoxazole (19.2%, 2 µg/mL), and erythromycin (18.8%, 0.25–0.5 µg/mL).

The strains were completely resistant to penicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, cefixime, ceftriaxone, vancomycin, and co-trimoxazole, and a species-specific trend was seen in both phenotypic and genotypic resistance patterns.

Genotypic resistance indicated prevalence of the bla1 (71.5%), tetA (33%), erm1 (27%), bla _TEM (13.1%), bla _CTX-M-1/ bla _CTX-M-2 / sul1 (10.1%), bla _SHV (9.6%), and qnrS (4.1%) genes.

The β-lactamase resistance gene bla1 was found in all penicillin-resistant (MIC ≥ 32 µg/mL) Bacillus spp.

One hundred ninety-one isolates (89.6%) were MDR, with 100% from diarrhea, 90.3% from food, and 88.7% from animal feed.

Conclusion Based on the MIC value and profile analysis of antibiotic resistance genes, this is the first study that Bacillus spp. antimicrobial susceptibilities have been identified in Bangladesh, and our study will shed light on the adverse effects of feed-borne Bacillus spp. emerging from animal feed to the food chain.

A comprehensive investigation is urgently needed by policymakers on tolerance limits and harmful effects in the animal industry.