| dc.description.abstract | Neurodevelopmental disorders impact brain function and development, leading to difficulties in
social, cognitive, and emotional areas. A study by the Neuro-Developmental Disability Protection
Trust, 2020 reported that 3 million people in Bangladesh are diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder and other Neurodevelopmental disorders. Additionally, a 2013 pilot study found that 7.1%
of Bangladesh's population has some form of neurodevelopmental disorder. Recent research
suggests a potential link between the oral microbiome and autism, with individuals with NDs at
higher risk of oral health issues that can affect their oral microbiome. In this study, the oral
microbiota of children with neurodevelopmental disorders was compared to that of neurotypical
children, along with an analysis of antibiotic susceptibility patterns in the identified
microorganisms. This study revealed notable differences between the isolates from the control and
sample groups. Oral swabs were taken from 20 children with NDs, including those diagnosed with
Autism, ADHD, Asperger’s syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and both mild and high-functioning autism.
For comparison, 40 samples were taken from neurotypical children. Although the control group
had twice as many samples, the number of isolates was not proportional, with 78 isolates found in
the control group and 54 in the sample group, suggesting a higher number of bacterial isolates in
the sample group. In the control group, 27% of the isolates were gram-positive and 73% were
gram-negative, while in the sample group, 61% were gram-positive and 39% were gram-negative.
Notably, the sample group had more than twice as many staphylococcus species compared to the
control group, with 52%, compared to 19% in the control group. This indicates a greater vulnerability to bacterial colonization in children with NDs. The antibiotic susceptibility analysis
further highlighted significant challenges, as children with NDs showed higher resistance to several key antibiotics compared to the control group. Although some similarities were found in
resistance patterns for Gram-positive isolates, there were significant differences for Vancomycin,
Doxycycline, and Levofloxacin, with the sample group showing much higher resistance rates with
87.5% for Vancomycin, 62.5% for Doxycycline, and 68.8% for Levofloxacin, compared to 45.5%,
31.8%, and 45.5%, in the control group. The situation was even more concerning for Gramnegative
isolates, where the sample group demonstrated much higher resistance across multiple
antibiotics. For example, resistance to Levofloxacin and Doxycycline was 90.5% in the sample
group, while the control group showed much lower resistance rates of 18.6% for both. This pattern
was consistent across other antibiotics, with the ND group showing resistance rates of 95.3% for
Azithromycin, 95.2% for Ampicillin, and 57.2% for Gentamicin, compared to 56%, 61%, and
15.2% in the control group. The data gained from this study depicts the distinct difference in
bacterial presence between neurotypical individuals and children with neurodevelopmental
disorders as well as their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. PCR was performed to confirm the
isolates of staphylococcus aureus and staphylococcus species. The PCR test confirmed the
presence of Staphylococcus aureus in 15% of the controls and in 22.5% of the samples. Moreover,
other Staphylococcus species were confirmed to be present in 45% of the controls and in 95% of
the Samples. | en_US |
