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Background: Neoteric times have witnessed antibiotic resistance and the increase of infectious diseases; hence these trends lead people toward natural products. Probiotics are considered a natural source for maintaining human health from the past decades. Owing to their health benefits consuming probiotics nowadays is becoming a very popular approach for managing the digestive tract and immune health of human beings as well as promising against some human diseases. The aim of this study was to observe the inhibitory effect of probiotics on some clinically isolated drug-resistant enteric pathogens. Methods: Six commercially available probiotics (capsules) were collected from different medicine shops of Dhaka City, Bangladesh. Agar well-diffusion technique was employed to observe the antimicrobial efficacy of these samples against different pathogenic bacteria isolated from clinical specimens. Different concentrations of the probiotics were subjected to microdilution assay to determine their minimal inhibitory concentration. Results: Gram-negative bacterial pathogens such as Shigella spp., Vibrio spp., Salmonella spp., Klebsiella spp., and Pseudomonas spp. were isolated from clinical specimens. The isolates were biochemically identified and determined to be multidrug resistant. All the probiotic samples contained lactic acid bacteria as conferred by their presence on magnetic resonance spectroscopy agar media and most of them displayed significant antibacterial activity as these samples produced a zone of inhibition against the studied bacterial isolates. Conclusions: The samples showed varying degrees of effectiveness against the clinical pathogens. Luvena, Acteria, Probio, and Good gut exhibited remarkable antibacterial traits, which could effectively inhibit the growth of most of the clinical isolates. On the other hand, samples from Prolacto and Enterogermina merely had an antimicrobial effect. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value at 512 µL was found against the majority of the pathogenic isolates, while 256 µl was recorded to be the lowest MIC value. Hence, the antimicrobial efficacy of the studied samples revealed the potency of the probiotic capsules against drug-resistant enteric pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unanticipated pathogenic risk and emerging transmittable diseases can result from interspecies exchanges of viruses among animals and humans. The emergence of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has recently exemplified this mechanism. Cough, fever, fatigue, headache, sputum production, hemoptysis, dyspnea, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal disorders are the characteristic features of the disease. The most prevalent and serious manifestation of the infection tends to be pneumonia. The new strains of SARS-CoV-2 with more infectivity have been emerging at regular intervals. There is currently no World Health Organization-approved particular drug for COVID-19. Besides, developing novel antivirals would take much time. Thus, repurposing the application of natural products can provide alternatives and can facilitate medication against COVID-19 as well as can slow down the aggressive progression of the disease before the arrival of approved drugs. Probiotics have long been known for their positive effects on the gut microbiome and impact on immune responses. Particularly, their involvement against viral diseases, especially those of the upper and lower respiratory tract, is of current interest for their prospective application against COVID-19. In this review, we comprehensively address the mode of action of probiotics and their possible intervention against coronavirus diseases correlating with their efficacy against viral diseases. In this regard, we explored recently published relevant research and review articles in MEDLINE/PubMed related to COVID-19 and the effects of probiotics on viral infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental pollution by various recalcitrant molecules, metals, and metalloids has increased during the decades principally due to the effluent discharges, trashes, garbage, oil spills, chemicals, sewages, etc., from the growing industries posing the major health risks along with the possibility of propagation of communicable diseases. To deal with such a vast clump of environmental pollutants, application of bioremediation has long been known as the supreme biotechnological method because of its eco-friendly nature. However, the applicability of bioremediation is still obscure except some specific fields to many of the developing countries like Bangladesh. Nevertheless, the toxicity caused by the environmental pollutants has been chalked out to some extent in this country whereas a vast field of environmental cleanup is yet to be resolved. In the present review, the global knowledge and practice of bioremediation has been discussed and the areas of bioremediation strategies in context to Bangladesh have been focused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is increasingly rising in Bangladesh due to the development of resistance of causative pathogens against commonly prescribed antibiotics. Present study attempted to examine the prevalence of such uropathogens and their antibiogram profiles. Among 462 urine samples collected from patients with UTI, 100 were found to be culture positive. Escherichia coli (70%) was predominating, while Klebsiella spp. (11%) and Enterococcus spp. (6%) were also prevalent. About 96% uropathogens were sensitive against imipenem, and 75% against amikacin. The resistance rate of E. coli and Klebsiella spp. against ampicillin was 98.5 and 100%, respectively, and to cefotaxime, 84.3 and 72.8%, respectively. More than 80% resistance against these antibiotics was scored for other isolates. The frequency of drug resistance was found to be comparatively elevated in E. coli, Pseudomonas spp. and Proteus spp. Overall, the present investigation emphasized the need for routine screening of antibiotic resistance to promote effective medication against UTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unanticipated pathogenic risk and emerging transmittable diseases can result from interspecies exchanges of viruses among animals and humans. The emergence of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has recently exemplified this mechanism. Cough, fever, fatigue, headache, sputum production, hemoptysis, dyspnea, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal disorders are the characteristic features of the disease. The most prevalent and serious manifestation of the infection tends to be pneumonia. The new strains of SARS-CoV-2 with more infectivity have been emerging at regular intervals. There is currently no World Health Organization-approved particular drug for COVID-19. Besides, developing novel antivirals would take much time. Thus, repurposing the application of natural products can provide alternatives and can facilitate medication against COVID-19 as well as can slow down the aggressive progression of the disease before the arrival of approved drugs. Probiotics have long been known for their positive effects on the gut microbiome and impact on immune responses. Particularly, their involvement against viral diseases, especially those of the upper and lower respiratory tract, is of current interest for their prospective application against COVID-19. In this review, we comprehensively address the mode of action of probiotics and their possible intervention against coronavirus diseases correlating with their efficacy against viral diseases. In this regard, we explored recently published relevant research and review articles in MEDLINE/PubMed related to COVID-19 and the effects of probiotics on viral infections., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Tzu Chi Medical Journal.)