Antibiotic resistance in commercially available probiotics in Bangladesh

Abstract

“Probiotic” can be defined as live microorganism with the ability to promote health befits in the host body when consumed in adequate amount. It is well known that probiotics improve intestinal health, boost immune system, prevent diarrhea and other allergic diseases, cancer, maintain cholesterol level, hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease etc. The health benefits of probiotics gain most attention while the potential risk factors are ignored. In our research, we aim to highlight the presence of antibiotic resistance in commercially produced probiotics, mostly yogurt and supplements along with making a comparison between the leading brands in Bangladesh. Five samples of yogurt and two dietary supplements from leading brands were collected from local supermarkets (Shawpno, Daily shopping etc.) in Dhaka for the isolation of probiotics. Identification and characterization of Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bacillus coagulans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Enterococcus faecium probiotics were done using gram staining and series of other biochemical tests. In order to identify multidrug resistance, antibiotic profiling was done using eleven different antibiotics. Bifidobacterium bifidum, Bacillus coagulans, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Enterococcus faecium showed 45%, 59%, 36%, 23% and 45% resistance respectively. While most of the probiotics demonstrated sensitive results, a lot of them showed resistance to the antibiotics which result in serious health issues if incorporation of antibiotic resistant genes occurs in pathogenic bacteria. According to the antibiotic susceptibility result of samples from different companies, the most resistance of 55% was found in yogurt 3 sample and yogurt 2 showed the most sensitivity of 73%. Sample of Yogurt 1, supplement 1 and supplement 2 demonstrated 53%, 23% and 18% resistance in that order. Meanwhile, no active probiotic was found in the samples of yogurt 4 and yogurt 5. The presence of these antibiotic resistant probiotics could be a potential source of antibiotic resistance in humans.