Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Prevalence, antibiotic-resistance properties and enterotoxin gene profile of Bacillus cereus strains isolated from milk-based baby foods

Reza Ranjbar¹, Mohammad Hossein Sakhaei Shahreza²

¹Molecular Biology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran; ²Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord Branch, Shahrekord, Iran.

For correspondence:- Mohammad Shahreza Email: Dr.mh_sakhaieshahreza@yahoo.com Tel:+989133223632

Received: 5 January 2017 Accepted: 13 July 2017 Published: 31 August 2017

Citation: Ranjbar R, Shahreza MH. Prevalence, antibiotic-resistance properties and enterotoxin gene profile of Bacillus cereus strains isolated from milk-based baby foods. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(8):1931-1937 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i8.25

© 2017 The authors.
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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