Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a crucial multifactorial and complex global problem and Bangladesh poses a regional and global threat with a high degree of antibiotic resistance. Although the routine application of antimicrobials in the livestock industry has largely contributed to the health and productivity, it correspondingly plays a significant role in the evolution of different pathogenic bacterial strains having multidrug resistance (MDR) properties. Bangladesh is implementing the National Action Plan (NAP) for containing AMR in human, animal, and environment sectors through "One Health" approach where the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) is the mandated body to implement NAP strategies in the animal health sector of the country. This review presents a "snapshot" of the predisposing factors, and current situations of AMR along with the weakness and strength of DLS to contain the problem in animal farming practices in Bangladesh. In the present review, resistance monitoring data and risk assessment identified several direct and/or indirect predisposing factors to be potentially associated with AMR development in the animal health sector of Bangladesh. The predisposing factors are inadequate veterinary healthcare, monitoring and regulatory services, intervention of excessive informal animal health service providers, and farmers' knowledge gap on drugs, and AMR which have resulted in the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, ultimate in the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and genes in all types of animal farming settings of Bangladesh. MDR bacteria with extreme resistance against antibiotics recommended to use in both animals and humans have been reported and been being a potential public health hazard in Bangladesh. Execution of extensive AMR surveillance in veterinary practices and awareness-building programs for stakeholders along with the strengthening of the capacity of DLS are recommended for effective containment of AMR emergence and dissemination in the animal health sector of Bangladesh.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a crucial and emerging multifactorial "One Health" problem involving human and animal health, agriculture, aquaculture, and environment; and posing a potential public health hazard globally. The containment of AMR justifies effective surveillance programs to explicate the magnitude of the problem across the contributing sectors. Laboratory-based AMR testing and characterization is the key component of an AMR surveillance program. An AMR surveillance program should have a "top management" for fund mobilization, planning, formulating, and multilateral coordinating of the surveillance activities. The top management should identify competent participating laboratories to form a network comprising a reference laboratory and an adequate number of sentinel laboratories. The responsibilities of the reference laboratory include the development of standardized test methods for ensuring quality and homogeneity of surveillance activities, providing training to the laboratory personnel, and in-depth AMR characterization. The sentinel laboratories will take the responsibilities of receiving samples, isolation and identification of microbes, and initial AMR characterization. The sentinel laboratories will use simple antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) methods such as disk diffusion tests, whereas the reference laboratories should use automated quantitative AST methods as well as advanced molecular methods to explicit AMR emergence mechanisms. Standard guidelines set by Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute or the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing, should be followed to bring about conformity and harmonization in the AST procedures. AMR surveillance program in animals is eventually similar to that in human health with the exception is that veterinary antibiotics and veterinary pathogens should be given preference here. Hence, the review study was envisaged to look deep into the structure of the AMR surveillance program with significance on laboratory-based AMR testing and characterization methods.

Foot‐and‐mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype A exhibits a higher degree of genetic and antigenic diversity resulting in frequent vaccine failure due to serological mismatch between the vaccine and heterologous strains. Currently, knowledge on the molecular basis of antigenic relationships among the FMDVs is limited; nevertheless, intratype antigenic variation due to mutation(s) is widely considered as the main hurdle to appropriate FMD vaccine development. Here, we studied genetic and antigenic variations of four FMDV serotype A isolates, BAN/GA/Sa‐197/2013 (BAN‐197), BAN/CH/Sa‐304/2016 (BAN‐304), BAN/DH/Sa‐307/2016 (BAN‐307) and BAN/DH/Sa‐310/2017 (BAN‐310) circulating in Bangladesh during 2013–2017. Initially, antigenic relationships (r₁‐values) of the field isolates were evaluated by the two‐dimensional microneutralization test (2D‐MNT) using the hyperimmune antisera raised in cattle against the vaccine strain, BAN‐304. Interesingly, the results showed protective serological cross‐reactivity (r₁‐values > 0.4) between the vaccine strain and the field isolates, BAN‐307 and BAN‐310, except BAN‐197 that substantially mismatched (r₁ = 0.129 ± 0.043) with the BAN‐304. Although VP1‐based phylogeny grouped all the isolates within the same sublineage C (a subgroup of VP3^Δ59 variant) under the lineage A/ASIA/G‐VII, strikingly, computational analyses of the viral capsid proteins demonstrated significant deviation at the VP1 G‐H loop of BAN‐197 from the vaccine strain, while VP(2–4) of both isolates were structurally conserved. To bridge the gap of how the distortion of the G‐H loop and consequent antigenic hetergeneity occurred in BAN‐197, we performed in silico combinatorial substitutions of the VP1 mutant amino acids (aa) of BAN‐197 with the respective residues in BAN‐304. Remarkably, our analyses revealed that two substitutions of distantly located aa at B‐C (T48I:threonine → isoleucine) and G‐H (A143V:alanine → valine) loops, in combination, distorted the VP1 G‐H loop. Overall, this work contributes to understanding the molecular basis of antigenic relationships operating in serotype A FMDVs and the selection of suitable vaccine strain(s) for effective prophylaxis of FMD based on VP1‐based analyses.