Significance of serological monitoring for hepatitis b viral infection in hemodialysis patients

To find out the prevalence of Hepatitis B by serologicai monitoring in chronic hemodialysis patients. The study was carried out in the department of Microbiology BMSI, JPMC Karachi, from January 2010 till February 2011. Two hundred blood samples were coiiected from the patients on chronic maintenance hemodialysis from the different hospitals/ dialysis centres in Karachi, that had at least twenty cycles of hemodialysis in tertiary care hospitals of Karachi. Biood was collected from each patient and the test was performed according to the standard protocol. Out of 200 patients, 51 [25.5%] patients were already vaccinated for HBV while in 149 [74.5%] patients there was no history of HBV vaccination. Among these 149 patients, 32 [21.47%] showed seropositivity for HBV infections in our study. The risk for acquiring these infections is significantly as-sociated with increasing duration of dialysis. Mean age of 56.7_SD 0.68 years with male predominance. There are only 25.5% patients who were vaccinated against HBV infection among 200 patients. The study revealed that HBV prevalence was commonly found among dialysis patients and only quarter of them were vaccinated. The vaccination should be mandatory in dialysis centers to prevent and control hepatitis B in hemodialysis units

Bacteriological spectrum of clinical specimens from cases of nosocomial infections in paediatric ICU

To assess bacteriological spectrum, of isolates from cases of nosocomial infections in pediatric ICU. subjective study that was carried out from November 2009 to September 2010, on two hundred samples which were taken from patients in pediatric ICU, tertiary care hospital who were clinically suspected of having nosocomial infection and processed for the diagnosis and isolation of the infective organisms in the Department of Microbiology, Basic Medical Sciences Institute [BMSI], Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre [JPMC], Total 200 samples were collected. Out of these 143 samples showed positive results. 138 were of bacterial growth while 5 samples were positive for fungus. Among these 61 were positive for septicemia, 44 positive for UTI and 17 samples were positive for respiratory tract related disease, while 21 positive for miscellaneous samples. This study presents a general overview of nosocomial pathogens in Pediatric ICUS and emphasizes the importance of timely clinical and bacteriological monitoring among children especially in patients in critically ill situation