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Current evidence indicates that more than half of all antimicrobials are used in the animal food-producing sector, which is considered a significant risk factor for the development, spread, and existence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pathogens in animals, humans, and the environment. Among other factors, clinical etiology and the level of knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of veterinarians are thought to be responsible for inappropriate prescriptions in the animal-source protein production sector in lower-resource settings like Bangladesh. We performed this cross-sectional study to assess factors associated with veterinarians’ antimicrobial prescription behavior and their KAP on antimicrobial use (AMU) and AMR in Bangladesh. Exploratory and multivariate logistic models were used to describe an association between knowledge, attitudes, and practices of AMU and AMR and demographic characteristics of veterinarians. The results demonstrated that when selecting an antimicrobial, there was no to minimal influence of culture and susceptibility tests and patients’ AMU history but moderate to high influence of the farmer’s economic condition and drug instructions among the veterinarians. The results also demonstrated that more than half of the veterinarians had correct KAP regarding AMU and AMR, while the rest had moderate or lower levels of KAP. The factor score analysis revealed that age, level of education, years of experience, gender, and previous training on AMU and AMR were the key influencing factors in their level of KAP. Adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that respondents’ age, current workplace, and previous training on AMU and AMR had a positive association with increased KAP. Considering the results, it is imperative to include AMR issues on vet curricula, and to provide post-education training, awareness campaigns, easy access to, and dissemination of AMR resources. Increasing the veterinary services to the outreach areas of the country and motivating veterinarians to follow the national AMR guidelines could be some other potential solutions to tackle the over-prescriptions of antimicrobials.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health crisis that is now impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known how COVID-19 risks influence people to consume antibiotics, particularly in contexts like Bangladesh where these pharmaceuticals can be purchased without a prescription. This paper identifies the social drivers of antibiotics use among home-based patients who have tested positive with SARS-CoV-2 or have COVID-19-like symptoms. Using qualitative telephone interviews, the research was conducted in two Bangladesh cities with 40 participants who reported that they had tested positive for coronavirus (n = 20) or had COVID-19-like symptoms (n = 20). Our analysis identified five themes in antibiotic use narratives: antibiotics as ‘big’ medicine; managing anxiety; dealing with social repercussions of COVID-19 infection; lack of access to COVID-19 testing and healthcare services; and informal sources of treatment advice. Antibiotics were seen to solve physical and social aspects of COVID-19 infection, with urgent ramifications for AMR in Bangladesh and more general implications for global efforts to mitigate AMR.

Background While vaccines ensure individual protection against COVID-19 infection, delay in receipt or refusal of vaccines will have both individual and community impacts. The behavioral factors of vaccine hesitancy or refusal are a crucial dimension that need to be understood in order to design appropriate interventions. The aim of this study was to explore the behavioral determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and to provide recommendations to increase the acceptance and uptake of COVID-19 vaccines in Bangladesh. Methods We employed a Barrier Analysis (BA) approach to examine twelve potential behavioral determinants (drawn from the Health Belief Model [HBM] and Theory of Reasoned Action [TRA]) of intended vaccine acceptance. We conducted 45 interviews with those who intended to take the vaccine (Acceptors) and another 45 interviews with those who did not have that intention (Non-acceptors). We performed data analysis to find statistically significant differences and to identify which beliefs were most highly associated with acceptance and non-acceptance with COVID-19 vaccines. Results The behavioral determinants associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Dhaka included perceived social norms, perceived safety of COVID-19 vaccines and trust in them, perceived risk/susceptibility, perceived self-efficacy, perceived positive and negative consequences, perceived action efficacy, perceived severity of COVID-19, access, and perceived divine will. In line with the HBM, beliefs about the disease itself were highly predictive of vaccine acceptance, and some of the strongest statistically-significant (p Conclusion An effective behavior change strategy for COVID-19 vaccines uptake will need to address multiple beliefs and behavioral determinants, reducing barriers and leveraging enablers identified in this study. National plans for promoting COVID-19 vaccination should address the barriers, enablers, and behavioral determinants found in this study in order to maximize the impact on COVID-19 vaccination acceptance.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become an emerging health issue globally, posing a threat to zoonotic pathogens and foodborne diseases. In Bangladesh, the poultry sector supplies the majority of the demand for animal-source protein. The irrational and excessive use of antimicrobials (AMU) has been observed in the poultry sector. The development of AMR is associated with many factors, including the knowledge and attitudes of poultry farmers. Therefore, AMR reduction requires intervention from all the stockholders, including the farmers who are considered as end users of antimicrobials. This current research conducted a cross-sectional study to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of poultry farmers on AMU and AMR in Bangladesh. We determined the KAP of poultry farmers (broiler and layer farmers) of some selected districts of the country using a tested and paper-based questionnaire. The results demonstrated that most of the respondents have insufficient KAP regarding AMU and AMR. The respondents used a variety of antimicrobials primarily in the treatment of various diseases in poultry. One-third of the farmers did not seek antimicrobials from registered vets. Instead, they depended on others or themselves. The factor score analysis further revealed that the farmers’ demographic and socioeconomic variables were significant factors influencing the KAP. An adjusted logistic regression analysis showed that older farmers with 9–12 years of farming experience and graduate-level education, engaging in medium-sized layer farming, were more likely to have correct KAP on AMU and AMR. Further, farmers from the Cox’s Bazar region showed correct knowledge, whereas farmers of the Chattogram region showed a correct attitude towards AMU and AMR. A Spearman’s rank-order correlation revealed a positive association between knowledge–attitudes and knowledge–practices. The findings of the current investigation provide baseline evidence about the KAP of poultry farmers from low-income resources and offer insights into designing interventions and policies for the use of AMU and AMR in Bangladesh.

South Asian (SA) countries have been fighting with the pandemic novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) since January 2020. Earlier, the country-specific descriptive study has been done. Nevertheless, as transboundary infection, the border sharing, shared cultural and behaviour practice, effects on the temporal and spatial distribution of COVID-19 in SA is still unveiled. Therefore, this study has been revealed the spatial hotspot along with descriptive output on different parameters of COVID-19 infection. We extracted data from the WHO and the worldometer database from the onset of the outbreak up to 15 May 2020. Europe has the highest case fatality rate (CFR; 9.22%), whereas Oceania has the highest (91.15%) recovery rate from COVID-19. Among SA countries, India has the highest number of cases (85,790), followed by Pakistan (38,799) and Bangladesh (20,065). However, the number of tests conducted was minimum in this region in comparison with other areas. The highest CFR was recorded in India (3.21%) among SA countries, whereas Nepal and Bhutan had no death record due to COVID-19 so far. The recovery rate varies from 4.75% in the Maldives to 51.02% in Sri Lanka. In Bangladesh, community transmission has been recorded, and the highest number of cases were detected in Dhaka, followed by Narayanganj and Chattogram. Dhaka and its surrounding districts, Faridpur and Madaripur district of Bangladesh, is in the hotspot on the spatiotemporal tendency. But no cold spot was pointed out in Bangladesh. Three hotspots and three cold spots at different confidence levels were detected in India. Findings from this study suggested the “test, trace, and isolation” approach for earlier detection of infection to prevent further community transmission of COVID-19., Highlights • Scientific question: Whether temporal pattern and spatial hotspot might be crucial or not to dig out the key players for community transmission of the pandemic COVID-19 in South Asia? • Evidence before this study: Circulation of COVID-19 is evident among South Asian countries since February 2020. Earlier, country specific descriptive study has been reported. Besides, as transboundary infection the border sharing, common cultural and behaviour practice, effects on temporal and spatial distribution of SARS-COV-2 in South Asia is still unveiled. Therefore, this study has been revealed the hotspot along with descriptive output on different parameters of COVID-19 infection. • New findings: This study identified the probable hotspots of COVID-19 in India and Bangladesh. We identified the variation in trends of transmission in different SA countries from specified clusters to intense community transmission. • Significance of the study: Findings from this study suggested “test, trace and isolation” approach for earlier detection of infection to prevent further community transmission of COVID-19. Besides, we should establish a potential early-warning system that could be used under non-outbreak condition to identify potential pandemic like disease X that has occurred and could resurface in the future.

Aim : Antimicrobial residue in animal food products is an important index of food safety. Antimicrobial residues could result from chemotherapeutic or chemoprophylactic use of drugs in food animals. This occurrence of residue in animal food products has received enormous worldwide attention from some local, international, and public health agencies. A crosssectional study was conducted from July to December 2009 to detect the antibiotic residues in tissues and eggs of laying hens at Chittagong of Bangladesh. Materials and Methods : Microbial inhibition test (MIT) and thin layer chromatography (TLC) methods were used to detect antibacterial residues in poultry tissues (liver, kidney, breast, and thigh muscles) and eggs. The bacteria and pH of the MIT method were as follows: Bacillus subtilis on test agar medium with a pH of 7.2, Bacillus cereus with a pH of 6.0, and Escherichia coli at pH with an 8.0. Results : The overall prevalence of antibiotic residues detected by MIT was 64% in liver, 63% in kidney, 56% in breast muscle, 50% in thigh muscle, and 60% in eggs. There was significant variation in results between MIT and TLC (p