Suchhanda Nandi and Shyamapada Mandal
Background and Objective: Various types of cosmetics, including the eye cosmetic (EC) one, have been reported worldwide to be contaminated with potential bacterial pathogens causing several infections to humans. The current study determines the bacterial contaminants of commercially available ECs in Malda (West Bengal state, India) and to explore the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of the isolated bacteria.
Methods and Findings: A total of 10 various ECs were purchased from Malda town market, India, and the bacterial growth were enriched in nutrient broth, inoculated with 5-10 mg of each of the test samples. The pure bacteria culture obtained from the samples were identified by phenotypic characterization, as Bacillus cereus (n=3), Bacillus sp. (n=1), Chromobacterium violaceum (n=2), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=1), and Listeria monocytogenes (n=2). The antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated bacteria was determined by disc diffusion method using 10 antibiotics; most of the isolates were resistant to three or more antibiotics, among ampicillin, cefpodoxime, nalidixic acid, trimethoprim and vancomycin. The calculated Antibiotic Resistance Index (ARI) for the test isolates was 0.055, while the multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index was 0.3 for L. monocytogenes, 0.4 for C. violaceum, and 0.5 for Ps. aeruginosa; the isolated Bacillus sp. had MAR index of zero.
Conclusion: The current data suggest the emergence of antibiotic resistance among bacterial strains in ECs and provide insight into the problems of overuse and/or misuse of antimicrobial agents, and the public awareness on cosmetic safety as well.
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