Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013 Dec 18;8(1):10-20.
eCollection 2014.

Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of Gram-Negative Pathogenic Bacteria Species Isolated from Periplaneta americana and Blattella germanica in Varanasi, India

D Leshan Wannigama  1 , Rishabh Dwivedi  1 , Alireza Zahraei-Ramazani  2
Affiliations

Prevalence and Antibiotic Resistance of Gram-Negative Pathogenic Bacteria Species Isolated from Periplaneta americana and Blattella germanica in Varanasi, India

D Leshan Wannigama et al. J Arthropod Borne Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Cockroaches are among the medically important pests found within the human habitations that cause serious public health problems. They may harbor a number of pathogenic bacteria on the external surface with antibiotic resistance. Hence, they are regarded as major microbial vectors. This study investigates the prevalence and antibiotic resistance of Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria species isolated from Periplaneta americana and Blattella germanica in Varanasi, India.

Methods: Totally, 203 adult cockroaches were collected form 44 households and 52 food-handling establishments by trapping. Bacteriological examination of external surfaces of Pe. americana and Bl. germanica were carried out using standard method and antibiotics susceptibility profiles of the isolates were determined using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion methods.

Results: Among the places, we found that 54% had cockroache infestation in households and 77% in food- handling establishments. There was no significant different between the overall bacteria load of the external surface in Pe. americana (64.04%) and Bl. germanica (35.96%). However the predominant bacteria on cockroaches were Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter aerogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. However, Kl. pneumoniae and Ps. aeruginosa were the most prevalent, drug-resistant strains were isolated from the cockroaches with 100% resistance to sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim and ampicillin. For individual strains of bacteria, Escherichia coli was found to have multi-resistance to four antibiotic tested, Citrobacter freundii four, Enterobacter aerogenes and Proteus mirabilis to three.

Conclusion: Cockroaches are uniformly distributed in domestic environment, which can be a possible vector for transmission of drug-resistant bacteria and food-borne diseases.

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Bacteria; Blattela germanica; Garm-Negative; Periplaneta americana.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution (%) of the cockroaches infestation at households
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Distribution (%) of the cockroaches infestation at food-handling establishments
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Allotey J, Mpuchane S, Gashe BA, Simpanya M, Matsheka I. Trapping of Blattella germanica (L) populations in human dwellings in Gaborone, Botswana. J Appl Zoo Res. 2009;20(2):175–188.
    1. Anupurba S, Bhattacharjee A, Garg A, Sen MR. Antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from wound infections. Indian J Dermatol. 2006;51:286–288.
    1. Ahmad Aqeel, Ghosh Anuradha, Schal Coby, Zurek Ludek. Insects in confined swine operations carry a large antibiotic resistant and potentially virulent enterococcal community. BMC Microbiology. 2011;11:23. doi: 10.1186/1471-2180-11-23. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Basu S, Ramchuran Panray T, Bali Singh T, Gulati AK, Shukla VK. A prospective, descriptive study to identify the microbiological profile of chronic wounds in outpatients. Ostomy Wound Manage Jan. 2009;55(1):14–20. - PubMed
    1. Bradford PA. Extended spectrum lactamases in the 21st century: characterization, epidemiology, and detection of this important resistance threat. Clin Microbial Rev. 2001;48:933–951. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources