Assessment of prevalence, antibiotic resistance, and virulence profiles of biofilm-forming isolated from raw seafood in Bangladesh.

are often resistant to different classes of antibiotics, harbor virulence determinants, and produce biofilm. The presence of in raw seafood exhibits serious public health significance. This study aimed to identify antibiotic resistance patterns and virulence factors in biofilm-forming strains extracted from seafood in Bangladesh. A total of 150 samples of raw seafood, comprising 50 shrimps, 25 crabs, and 75 fish, were collected and subjected to culturing, biochemical, and PCR assays to detect . The biofilm-forming abilities of the isolates were determined by Congo Red agar (CRA) plate and Crystal Violet Micro-titer Plate (CVMP) tests. Antibiotic resistance profiles were evaluated using the disk diffusion method. Virulence genes of the isolates were detected by PCR assay. The occurrence of was 29.3 % (44/150), which was higher in crabs and fish (36 %) than in shrimps (16 %). In CRA and CVMP tests, biofilm-forming abilities were observed in 88.64 % of the isolates, whereas 11 (25 %) and 28 (63.6 %) were strong- and intermediate-biofilm formers, respectively. All the isolates contained at least two virulence genes, including and (97.7 %), (95.5 %), (90.9 %), (79.6 %), (70.5 %), (68.2 %), and (61.4 %). All the isolates were phenotypically resistant to penicillin, followed by ampicillin and rifampicin (86.4 %), erythromycin (13.7 %), and tetracycline, vancomycin, norfloxacin, and linezolid (2.3 %). Resistant gene was found in 61.4 % of the isolates. Moreover, the study found that strains with strong biofilm-forming capabilities had significantly higher levels of virulence genes and antibiotic resistance ( < 0.05) compared to those with intermediate and/or no biofilm-forming abilities. To the best of our knowledge, this research represents the first instance in Bangladesh of assessing antibiotic resistance and identifying virulence genes in biofilm-forming strains isolated from seafood samples. Our study revealed that seafood is a carrier of antibiotic-resistant, virulent, and biofilm-forming , demonstrating a potential public health threat.