Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the prevalence, distribution of enterotoxins and antibiotic resistance of B. cereus in milk-based infant foods.Methods: Three-hundred milk-based infant foods were collected and immediately transferred to the laboratory. Samples were cultured and B. cereus isolates were also confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based detection of gyrB gene. B. cereus strains were subjected to disk diffusion and PCR-based detection of enterotoxigenic genes.Results: Prevalence of B. cereus in infant foods was 3 %. Contamination was in the range of 12.5 – 41.5 CFU/g. Brand D had the highest prevalence of B. cereus (6.2 %). NheA (88.8 %), nheC (55.5 %) and entFM (55.5 %) were the most commonly detected enterotoxigenic genes. Bacteria showed the highest prevalence of resistance against penicillin (100 %), tetracycline (77.7 %) and oxacillin (66.6 %). Prevalence of resistance against two antibiotics were 100 %.Conclusion: Considerable prevalence of resistant and toxigenic B. cereus and high consumption of milk-based infant foods in Iran, represent an important public health issue which should be considered for further preventive approaches.Keywords: Prevalence, Bacillus cereus, Antibiotic resistance, Enterotoxigenic genes, Milk-based infant food
Highlights
Infants and young children are mainly susceptible to food-borne diseases because they have weak immune system
The present investigation was done to study the prevalence of B. cereus in milk-based infant foods as well as study the distribution of enterotoxigenic genes and antibiotic resistance pattern of bacterial isolates
We found that all of the B. cereus strains of infant foods harbored at least resistance against 2 antibiotics (100 %), while prevalence of resistance against more than 8 antibiotics was 11.1 %
Summary
Infants and young children are mainly susceptible to food-borne diseases because they have weak immune system. To study the epidemiological and microbiological aspects of the B. cereus in milk-based infant foods, evaluation of the profile of enterotoxigenic genes and antibiotic resistance pattern are required. The present investigation was done to study the prevalence of B. cereus in milk-based infant foods as well as study the distribution of enterotoxigenic genes and antibiotic resistance pattern of bacterial isolates. Samples were collected from four different brands of milk-based infant foods. Each pasteurized can or package of milk-based infant food was determined as a single sample. B. cereus isolates were confirmed using the PCR-based detection of gyrB gene. Significant difference was seen between brand of samples and prevalence of B. cereus (p < 0.05). The chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were performed on obtained data to identify any significant differences for the prevalence of B. cereus, enterotoxigenic genes and antibiotic resistance pattern.
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