Detection of SARS-CoV-2 using high-throughput PCR

Efficient management of an epidemic requires identification and isolation of infected individuals from healthypopulation to curb community spread of the pathogen. Therefore, a faster and efficient diagnostic methodfor population screening is desirable to flatten the curve of daily raise of cases. This will also help medicalprofessional to treat the epidemic efficiently. The COVID 19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirusposes a huge challenge to human being and the countries with high-density population are facing uniquechallenges. For the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Quantitative Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR)emerging as a gold standard for the identification of infection; however, infrastructure requirement for thisassay is at a high-demand and therefore, resources are not abundant. We, therefore, propose a Polymerase ChainReaction (PCR)-based sensitive method for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The pipeline discussedin the paper will broaden the scope of control and surveillance of COVID 19 in a high-throughput mannerwithout a sophisticated diagnostic infrastructure

Unregulated use of antibiotics in Siliguri city vis-a-vis occurrence of MAR bacteria in community waste water and river Mahananda, and their potential for resistance gene transfer.

The unregulated use of antibiotics, including therapeutic and prophylactic prescribing, in the fastest growing city of West Bengal, Siliguri, was studied indirectly from a random survey conducted on retail medicine sellers at their counters. Ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, norfioxacin and amoxycillin were the highest retailed antibiotics and 58% of the city pharmacies sold antibiotics even without prescriptions. To understand the influence of the extent of antibiotic use by the community on the collective bacterial flora in the aquatic environment, we have determined the fraction(s) of Standard Plate Count (SPC) bacteria resistant to different antibiotics and multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) profile of resistant SPC isolates from two municipal open drains and Mahananda river water samples of Siliguri. Within the MAR groups of Drain I and Drain II samples, 37.44% and 77.43% respectively were resistant to all seven antibiotics (ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, kanamycin, netilmicin, streptomycin and tetracycline) used in the study. Twenty Gram-negative SPC MAR isolates were examined for the presence of plasmids. Antibiotic resistance was shown to be associated with a carriage of a 47 kb (D1QN - 9), 48 kb (D2QN - 14) and 49.4 and 3.6 kb (MR - 1) plasmids, which were transmissible to the Escherichia coli DH5alpha recipient. The rapid spread of antibiotic resistance genes in bacterial population as a consequence of indiscriminate use of antibiotics, which can be partly attributed to plasmid-mediated horizontal transfer was discussed.

Investigation of some basic water quality parameters of the north Bengal Terai river Kaljani--a tributary of river Torsa, and comparison thereof with the mainstream.

Some physico-chemical parameters of Kaljani River were studied in and around Alipurduar municipality. The principal characteristics of Kaljani River are high TSS, Mg-hardness, COD, and Phosphate 'P' Comparison of water quality parameters of the two rivers demonstrated higher range of alkalinity, ammonia 'N' content and chloride content in Torsa than Kaljani. River Kaljani showed higher COD range than Torsa. Mean BOD value of both these rivers ranged between 0.93-1.65 mg/l. Overall TDS content of Kaljani was found to be lower than Torsa. Maximum phosphate 'P' content was observed at the downstream of both the rivers.

Physico-chemical and bacteriological investigation on the River Torsa of North Bengal.

A few physico-chemical and bacteriological parameters on certain locations of the river Torsa was studied. The major characteristics of Torsa river water were high alkalinity, high concentration of free ammonia with respect to albuminoid ammonia and the presence of bacteria of fecal origin. Marked seasonal variations of the parameters were also observed.