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Multidrug-Resistant Escherichia coli Isolated from Stool Samples of Healthy Infants in Rural Bangladeshi Communities

Fatema-Tuz Johura International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Jarin Tasnim International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Sahitya Ranjan Biswas International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Riajul Islam International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Talal Hossain International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Hafizur Rahman The JiVitA Research Project, Gaibandha, Bangladesh;

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Saijuddin Shaikh The JiVitA Research Project, Gaibandha, Bangladesh;

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Hasmot Ali The JiVitA Research Project, Gaibandha, Bangladesh;

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Subhra Chakraborty Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland

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Alain Labrique Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland

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Tahmeed Ahmed International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Md Iqbal Hossain International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Munirul Alam International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh;

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Amanda C. Palmer Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.24-0541
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Ahead of Print
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Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a commensal organism in humans and animals. It can serve as a reservoir for antibiotic resistance, thus providing an indicator of drug resistance patterns in a community. We investigated antibiotic resistance in E. coli isolated from nondiarrheal stool samples of 6-month-old infants (n = 110) from northwest Bangladesh. We conducted susceptibility testing using a disc diffusion assay against 20 antibiotics. Resistance was most pronounced for macrolides (98.2% resistant), whereas the most sensitive antibiotics were fosfomycin (100%), gentamicin (99.1%), meropenem (98.2%), mecillinam (97.3%), tigecycline (97.3%), and imipenem (87.3%). Excluding erythromycin, roughly 55% of isolates were multidrug-resistant. Our results likely reflect the burden of drug-resistant E. coli in the guts of infants in rural Bangladesh and the prevailing drug resistance patterns in this community.

Author Notes

Financial support: This work was supported, in whole or in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation [OPP1163259]. Under the grant conditions of the Foundation, a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License has already been assigned to the Author Accepted Manuscript version that might arise from this submission.

Disclosure: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (Baltimore, MD) and the Research and Ethics Review Committees at the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh.

Current contact information: Fatema-Tuz Johura, Subhra Chakraborty, and Alain Labrique, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, E-mails: mjohura1@jh.edu, schakr11@jhu.edu, and alabriqu@gmail.com. Jarin Tasnim, Tahmeed Ahmed, Md Iqbal Hossain, and Munirul Alam, International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh, E-mails: jarintasnim537@gmail.com, tahmeed@icddrb.org, ihossain@icddrb.org, and munirul@icddrb.org. Sahitya Ranjan Biswas, Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Roanoke, VA, E-mail: ayanranjanbiswas25@gmail.com. Riajul Islam, IT and Public Service Audit Directorate, Dhaka, Bangladesh, E-mail: riaj1991@gmail.com. Talal Hossain, Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Saffron Walden, United Kingdom, E-mail: th14@sanger.ac.uk. Hafizur Rahman, The JiVitA Research Project, Bangladesh, Rangpur, Bangladesh, E-mail: hafiz.jivita@gmail.com. Saijuddin Shaikh, Centre for Health Research and Development, Society for Applied Studies, New Delhi, India, E-mail: saijuddin.shaikh@sas.org.in. Hasmot Ali, The JiVitA Research Project, Bangladesh, Rangpur, Bangladesh, E-mail: hasmot.jivita@gmail.com. Amanda C. Palmer, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, E-mail: acpalmer@jhu.edu.

Address correspondence to Amanda C. Palmer, Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 North Wolfe St., W2041, Baltimore, MD 21205. E-mail: acpalmer@jhu.edu
Copyright:
© The author(s) 2025
Received:
18 Aug 2024
|
Accepted:
09 Dec 2024
|
Published Online:
13 May 2025
Cover The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Print ISSN:
0002-9637
Online ISSN:
1476-1645

Diagnostic Procedures and Reagents

Technics for the Laboratory Diagnosis and Control of the Communicable Diseases, American Public Health Association, Ed., pp. v plus 589, 6 plates in color, cloth, New York, Am. Pub. Health Assoc. Inc., 1950, $6.00

An Introduction to Medical Protozoology

With Chapters on the Spirochaetes and on Laboratory Methods. By Robert Knowles, B.A., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Lt. Col., Indian Medical Service, Calcutta. Thacker, Spink and Company. 1928. Pages I–XII, 1–887

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