Background:Milk is considered as complete food and an important part of human diet throughout the world including India. Bacterial contamination of milk such as Escherichia coli due to unhygienic condition and poor udder health can cause infections, especially in infants and elders or in immunocompromised persons. Possession of antimicrobial resistance genes by commensal bacteria present in milk makes the issue more serious.Aim:The study was aimed to isolate and characterize extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli from milk samples collected from different parts of West Bengal, India, to assess the potential risk associated with the food.Materials and Methods:Around 182 milk samples were collected from apparently healthy cows reared by organized dairy farms in West Bengal. E. coli was isolated from collected samples as per standard methods followed by serotyping. The detection of ESBL-producing E. coli was done both phenotypically and genotypically by detecting the presence of blaCTX-M gene. Antibiogram of the ESBL-positive isolates was done using common 12 antibiotics by disc diffusion method.Results:A total of 22 (12.1%) samples were found to be positive for E. coli in this study. Different serotypes such as O11, O20, O22, O34, O35, O128, O149, and UT were isolated from the collected samples. 12 (54.5%) E. coli strains showed the capability of producing ESBL, both phenotypically and genotypically with the presence of blaCTX-M gene. Antibiogram of these ESBL-positive isolates revealed the drugs such as colistin (100%), levofloxacin (83.33%), and imipenem (66.67%) to be highly sensitive against this pathogen but drugs such as cefotaxime (100%), ceftazidime (91.67%), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (83.33%), tetracycline (75.00%), and gentamicin (58.33%) to be very much resistant.Conclusion:More than 50% of the E. coli strains prevalent in the bovine milk samples were positive for ESBL production and are resistant to most of the common antimicrobials which may be alarming for human health.

Aim:The aim was to characterize Salmonella enterica serovar Gallinarum isolated from backyard poultry by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of virulence genes invasion (invA) and Salmonella plasmid virulence C (spvC).Materials and Methods:Two strains of Salmonella serovar Gallinarum isolates used in this study were obtained from an outbreak of fowl typhoid in backyard Vanaraja fowl. PCR technique was used for detection of invA and spvC genes using standard methodology. The invA PCR product from one representative isolate was sequenced and compared with other related Salmonella serovars in GenBank data.Results:Salmonella Gallinarum produced expected amplicons of invA and spvC gene products. Nucleotide sequence of 285 bp invA gene was deposited in GenBank with accession no. KX788214. Sequence analysis of invA gene was found conserved in Salmonella serovars and demonstrated 100% homology with closely related serovars of Salmonella.Conclusion:Invasion gene (invA) was found to be highly conserved in Salmonella Gallinarum and highly similar with closely related serovars. The isolates also contained plasmid-mediated spvC gene indicating possession of virulence plasmid.

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Cryptococcus neoformans acts as a major etiology of human infections in immunocompromised, cancer and transplant patients. The present study was conducted to detect the occurrence and antifungal resistance of C. neoformans in domestic and feral pigeons in and around Kolkata, a metropolitan city in India with considerable size of pigeon population. Weathered droppings of domestic and feral pigeons (n=917) were collected from different pet bird shelters, different buildings and other places. Isolation and identification of C. neoformans was performed based on cultural, biochemical properties. Antifungal sensitivity of the confirmed isolates were performed according to standard CLSI protocols with seven antifungals and caspofungin. A total of 153(16.68%) samples were found positive for Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans. All the isolates possessed CNLAC1 outer gene in PCR. Antifungal sensitivity revealed marked resistance to amphotericin-B (33.33%), fluconazole (20.91%), flucytosine (11.11%), and ketoconazole (8.49%). This is of great concern as the study area (Kolkata) is a densely populated city and the birds are in close proximity to the people.