title: Genotype Analysis of Bacillus anthracis Strains Circulating in Bangladesh.
abstract: In Bangladesh, anthrax, caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is considered an endemic disease affecting ruminants with sporadic zoonotic occurrences in humans. Due to the lack of knowledge about risks from an incorrect removal of infected carcasses, the disease is not properly monitored, and because of the socio-economic conditions, the situation is under-reported and under-diagnosed. For sensitive species, anthrax represents a fatal outcome with sudden death and sometimes bleeding from natural orifices. The most common source of infection for ruminants is ingestion of spores during grazing in contaminated pastures or through grass and water contaminated with anthrax spores. Domestic cattle, sheep and goats can also become infected through contaminated bone meal (used as feed) originating from anthrax-infected carcasses. The present investigation was conducted to isolate B. anthracis organisms from 169 samples (73 soil, 1 tissue, 4 bone and 91 bone meal samples) collected from 12 different districts of Bangladesh. The sampling was carried out from 2012 to 2015. Twelve samples resulted positive for B. anthracis. Biomolecular analyses were conducted starting from the Canonical Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (CanSNP) to analyze the phylogenetic origin of strains. The analysis of genotype, obtained through the Multiple Locus Variable Number Tandem Repeat Analysis (MLVA) with the analysis of 15 Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR), demonstrated four different genotypes: two of them were previously identified in the district of Sirajganj. The sub-genotyping, conducted with Single Nucleotide Repeats analysis, revealed the presence of eight subgenotypes. The data of the present study concluded that there was no observed correlation between imported cattle feed and anthrax occurrence in Bangladesh and that the remarkable genetic variations of B. anthracis were found in the soil of numerous outbreaks in this country.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dhaka University. Dhaka, Bangladesh.|Department of Microbiology & Virology, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Farzana Islam
authors.initials: FI
authors.lastname: Rume
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Affuso
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Luigina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serrecchia
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rondinone
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Viviana
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Manzulli
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Emanuele
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Campese
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Di Taranto
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology & Veterinary Public Health, Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Paritosh Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dhaka University. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Chowdhury Rafiqul
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Ahsan
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dhaka University. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: Mahmuda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yasmin
authors.affiliation: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Puglia and Basilicata, Anthrax Reference Institute of Italy, Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fasanella
authors.affiliation: School of the Coast & Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States of America.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hugh-Jones
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000881:Anthrax / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000662:veterinary; D001408:Bacillus anthracis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000382:microbiology; D002417:Cattle / Q000382:microbiology; D005838:Genotype; D006041:Goats / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D018598:Minisatellite Repeats; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012756:Sheep / Q000382:microbiology; D012988:Soil Microbiology