Health Education Program on Leptospirosis among College Students in Chennai, South India.

Aim: To determine the level of knowledge on leptospirosis among college students in Chennai, India before and after the health education program. Study Design: Interventional study Place and Duration of the Study: Seven Arts and Science colleges in Chennai, India between January and June 2014. Methodology: After getting prior permission from the Principals of the colleges, the students who were willing to take part in the study were requested to fill serially numbered and labeled semistructured questionnaire (A&B). Questionnaire included demographics and questions on awareness of leptospirosis, risk factors, mode of transmission, symptoms and human vaccine. Questionnaire A was filled (anonymously) and collected after which the education on leptospirosis was provided as a power point presentation. At the end of the program, students filled questionnaire B and submitted. Statistical analysis was done using McNemar test. Results: Out of 501 students, 28% were males and 72% were females. Age of the students ranged from 16 to 37 years with mean of 20.46 years, SD 3.477. Seventy five percent were Hindus, 20% were Christians and 5% were Muslims. Only 36% of the students were aware that Leptospirosis was common in Chennai while after the program 84% were aware of leptospirosis (P< .001). Knowledge on the risk factors of leptospirosis increased significantly after the program (P < .001). Pre awareness assessment revealed poor knowledge on the modes of transmission of leptospirosis and on symptoms of the disease such as fever and jaundice which increased significantly after the intervention (P < .001). Knowledge on human vaccine was found to be less in the initial survey which improved significantly after the awareness program (P < .001). Conclusions: There was significant increase in the knowledge on leptospirosis among the students after the health education program. Such programs are needed to be carried out for a wider dissemination of information.

Occurrence of leptospirosis among suspected cases in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Objective: To evaluate the serological profile of leptospirosis by microscopic agglutination test (MAT) and dark field microscopy (DFM) and to determine the serovar prevalence rate among patients with pyrexia of unknown origin. Materials and Methods: A total of 3830 blood samples were received from different hospitals and laboratories in and around Chennai. They were screened for leptospirosis by MAT and direct observation of live Leptospira by DFM. Results: A total of 748 (19.5%) Leptospira positive cases were identified; among these, 36.76% were Leptospira australis, 30% were Leptospira canicola, 14.57% were Leptospira autumnalis, 12% were Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae, 4.68% were Leptospira patoc and 1.87% were Leptospira grippotyposa. Patients were in the age group of 1-86 years, with a median age of 43.5 years. 50% positive cases were in the age group of 10-35 years. Majority of the Leptospira infected cases were males (62.98%) than females (37.02%). Conclusion: Leptospirosis occurs in Chennai throughout the year although the number and positivity of cases increased during the monsoon season.

The use of dried blood spots on filter paper for the diagnosis of HIV-1 in infants born to HIV seropositive women.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the most sensitive test to diagnose HIV-1 infection among infants born to HIV seropositive mothers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of dried blood spot (DBS) specimens for PCR and to compare it with whole-blood stored in tubes for HIV-1 DNA PCR. Five hundred and seventy-seven whole-blood infant samples were tested using HIV-1 qualitative in-house nested DNA PCR. Three hundred and fifty-nine samples were from infants at 48 hours of birth and 218 samples at second month. All positive samples tested from whole-blood and every fifth negative sample were coated onto filter paper. DNA was extracted from the filter paper and was amplified using in-house nested PCR. Among the whole-blood samples tested using HIV-1 DNA PCR, 19 of 359 (5.29%) samples were HIV-1 positive and 340 (94.7%) were negative at 48 hours of birth. At second month, 19 (8.7%) of the 218 samples were positive and 199 (91.2%) were negative. Using dried filter paper, 18 samples (95%) tested positive from 19 positive samples (using whole-blood) and 1 tested negative at 48 hours of birth. The 68 negative samples tested using whole-blood were also negative in the DBS test (sensitivity 95% and specificity 100%). At second month, 19 were positive and 40 samples (every fifth sample of 199) were negative (sensitivity and specificity, 100%). PCR performed using DNA extracted from filter paper permits the diagnosis of HIV-1 infection among infants born to HIV-1 seropositive mothers. This assay is simple, rapid, sensitive and specific and can be used in resource limited settings.

Circadian clocks and life-history related traits: is pupation height affected by circadian organization in Drosophila melanogaster?

In D. melanogaster, the observation of greater pupation height under constant darkness than under constant light has been explained by the hypothesis that light has an inhibitory effect on larval wandering behaviour, preventing larvae from crawling higher up the walls of culture vials prior to pupation. If this is the only role of light in affecting pupation height, then various light : dark regimes would be predicted to yield pupation heights intermediate between those seen in constant light and constant darkness. We tested this hypothesis by measuring pupation height under various light : dark regimes in four laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Pupation height was the greatest in constant darkness, intermediate in constant light, and the least in a light/dark regime of LD 14:14 h. The results clearly suggest that there is more to light regime effects on pupation height than mere behavioural inhibition of wandering larvae, and that circadian organization may play some role in determining pupation height, although the details of this role are not yet clear. We briefly discuss these results in the context of the possible involvement of circadian clocks in life-history evolution.