| Summary: | Human listeriosis is a food-borne illness mainly caused by Listeria monocytogenes. Albeit recorded with relatively low prevalence, the illness can cause high rates of mortality in both humans and animals worldwide through the consumption of dairy products. In Bangladesh, however, detailed scientific information on the prevalence of Listeria spp. is yet to be appreciated. Therefore, the current study was designed with a view to detect L. monocytogenes along with other Listeria spp. in various cattle farms located within the city of Dhaka and to determine their antibiotic resistance traits. Here, a total of ninty-one samples comprising of cattle feed, cattle drinking water, raw milk and cow dung were collected randomly from various cattle farms in Dhaka City. Of them, 13.2% was positive for Listeria spp. While feed and dung samples exhibited the highest prevalence, raw milk samples exhibited none of the Listeria spp., as determined by Listeria-specific selective media and biochemical tests. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of the Listeria isolates produced multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) indices ranging from 0.40 to 0.64 to a panel of 25 antibiotics, some of which have been used as the first-choice drugs to treat human listeriosis for years. The prevalence of multiple antibiotic resistant Listeria could be an alarming concern from the public health perspective in Bangladesh.
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