A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF BACTERIAL ZOONOTIC DISEASES IN THE LIGHT OF ‘ONE
HEALTH’ APPROACH WITH MULTIDRUG RESISTANCE STATUS IN BANGLADESH
Authors: Samad M. A. 
Published: January 2025

Background: Zoonotic diseases are globally distributed and have important public health, animal health, and economic implications. People in low-income agriculture-based countries, including Bangladesh, are frequently exposed to zoonotic pathogens due to close interaction with domestic and peri-domestic animals. Antibacterial resistance (ABR), including multi-drug resistance (MDR) problems, has been reported in
Bangladesh. Without updated knowledge of ABR, no drugs could be prescribed for effective treatment and management of different zoonotic diseases. Different emerging, re-emerging, and endemic zoonotic diseases have been reported in Bangladesh but are hardly presented systematically based on the ‘One Health’ perspective.
Objective: This search aimed at a systematic review to produce a comprehensive, up-to-date report on bacterial zoonotic diseases (BZD), clarify their antibacterial resistance status, and identify the major areas for future research in Bangladesh.
Materials and Methods: A systematic review investigated the prevalence of ZBD and their ABR status over 50 years from 1970 to 2024, considering Bangladesh's ‘One Health’ concept. The predominant resources were journal publications either available in the library as hard copies or all available in scientific databases, including PubMed, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar. Research reports on ZBD reported in domestic animals, birds, humans and wildlife were reviewed thoroughly to assess the quality of reporting items for inclusion in the systematic review.
Results: The results of the prevalence, effects, and ABR status of BZD in humans, animals, and birds in Bangladesh are reviewed and analyzed from 434 published research reports supported by 97 foreign-related research reports. The prevalence of significant ZBDs from Bangladesh are anthrax, brucellosis, tuberculosis, salmonellosis, E. coli infection, Staphylococcus infection, campylobacteriosis, and leptospirosis. From 19822024, 228 outbreaks of anthrax in animals, especially cattle, caused zoonotic cutaneous anthrax in 3066 humans in Bangladesh. Analysis of the Veterinary Hospital Records of 64 districts showed 13.49% case fatality of livestock caused by anthrax, and mortality varied from 12.9 to 100% in cattle along with two affected human cases died of anthrax in Bangladesh. Tuberculosis was recorded in an overall 11.78% (737/6258) cattle,
3.33% (6/180) buffaloes, 7.75% (32/413) sheep, 1.29 % (2/155) goats, 6.67% (6/90) humans and 100% (2/2) monkeys. Out of nine serological tests used, i-ELISA and PCR are considered reliable for accurate diagnosis of brucellosis. An overall 2.69% seroprevalence of brucellosis in cattle, 3.65% in buffaloes, 3.70% in goats, 2.32% in sheep, 4.0% in pet dogs, and 13.33% in stray dogs, and 3.14% in humans were detected by i-ELISA. In contrast, PCR detected 1.99% brucellosis in cattle and was not applied in other species. The milk ring test (MRT) detected an overall 4.38% Brucella-positive milk in lactating cows and 13.64% in lactating goats and reported 3.96% in culture/PCR-positive milk samples. Higher seroprevalence of brucellosis in occupational groups, especially 31.3% in slaughterhouse workers, 11.11% in abattoir butchers, 3.42% in
livestock farm workers, 6.45% in milkers/dairy workers, and 9.67% in veterinarians were recorded. An analysis of 85 reports shows that Bangladesh has a high prevalence of 42.86% (5209/12154) E. coli infection, 31.37% (468/1492) Staphylococcus spp., and 19.09% (2228/11594) Salmonella spp. in livestock and humans. Antibiogram studies were conducted with 52 antibacterial drugs against Salmonella spp., E. coli, and
Staphylococcus pp. The ABR of Salmonella spp. exhibited the highest resistance to trimethoprim (100%), followed by penicillin (93.22%), cloxacillin (90.35%), tetracycline (89.94%), pefloxacin (88.08%), clindamycin (84.00%), erythromycin (87.19%), and rifampicin (85.33%). E. coli isolates expressed the highest resistance to oxacillin (100%%), followed by cloxacillin (98.48%), trimethoprim (91.10%), rifampicin
(90.00%), cephalexin (84.45%), ampicillin (83.97%) amoxicillin (82.13%), and erythromycin (80.36%). Staphylococcus spp. isolates resisted ampicillin (72.58%%), doxycycline (60.29%), cefixime (57.14%), and penicillin (54.81%). MDR at a high level were reported against isolates of these three bacteria, which indicates a high risk of transmission of resistance genes from microbial contamination of livestock origin.
Conclusion: Antimicrobials are life-saving drugs, but increasing resistance levels seriously compromise their effectiveness in nearly all bacteria causing infection in food animals and humans. Horizontal gene transfer and/or evolutionary mutations, antimicrobials primarily exert selection pressure that contributes to ABR. The ‘One Health’ holistic and coordinated approach in human and veterinary medicine, environmental sciences and public health is required to develop effective surveillance techniques with appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Research to
control zoonotic diseases is neglected in low-income countries and similarly ‘One Health’ approach to prevent and control zoonotic diseases is also neglected. However, the spread of ABR bacteria in livestock farms can be prevented by effective biosecurity measures, responsible antibiotic use, and strict regulations in livestock production, whereas infection and drug resistance of ZBD in humans can be prevented by food hygiene, hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, contact precautions, active surveillance cultures, education, antimicrobial stewardship and personal protective equipment.