Pulmonary Mycobacterium kyorinense disease: A case report and review of literature

We report here the first case of pulmonary infection due to Mycobacterium kyorinense in a 55-year-old hypertensive woman treated for pulmonary tuberculosis earlier on two occasions. She presented with productive cough, intermittent episode of left-sided chest pain, loss of appetite, low-grade fever, and breathlessness. Sputum cultures revealed non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). She remained persistently symptomatic with sputum cultures positive for acid-fast bacilli even after 6 months of treatment. Hence, a 16SrRNA gene amplification and sequencing were done that revealed M. kyorinense. Based on the guidelines of the American Thoracic Society, she was started on weight-based dosing of clarithromycin, levofloxacin, ethambutol, isoniazid and injection amikacin daily. The patient improved symptomatically and became culture-negative after 3 months of therapy with the above regimen and continued to be culture negative for 12 months of treatment. She continues to remain symptom-free without evidence of any clinical or bacteriological relapse.

A convenient first aid kit for chemical and biological agents and for radiation exposure.

The chemical and biological warfare agents are extremely toxic in nature. They act rapidly even in very small quantities and death may occur in minutes. Hence, physical and medical protection must be provided immediately to save life or avoid serious injury. A first aid kit has thus been developed for providing immediate relief from chemical and biological warfare agents (FAKCBW) with the objective of easy detection, personal decontamination, antidote for chemical warfare agents (like nerve agents, sulphur mustard, phosgene, cyanide, radiation exposure and bacterial agents), along with basic medication aid for pain, fever and inflammation. The kit box also includes a user friendly handbook with a simple standard operating procedure. In addition, the kit is rugged to withstand normal jerks, vibration and is water-proof.

Evaluation of a commercial Dengue NS1 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for early diagnosis of dengue infection.

Purpose: Dengue is one of the most serious mosquito-borne viral infections affecting tropical and subtropical countries in the world. Since there is no immunoprophylactic or specific antiviral therapy available, timely and rapid diagnosis plays a vital role in patient management and implementation of control measures. This paper evaluates a commercially available NS1 antigen capture ELISA vis-a-vis SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test for early detection of dengue virus. Materials and Methods: To evaluate a commercial NS1 antigen detection kit vis-a-vis SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test, a total of 91 clinical samples were tested. Virological investigations with regard to dengue virus, viz. NS1 antigen capture ELISA (Panbio, Australia), SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test, RT-PCR and virus isolation were performed. Results: Out of 91 samples, 24 (26%) were positive by NS1 antigen capture ELISA, 15 (16%) by SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test and 11(12%) positive by RT-PCR analysis. The RT-PCR-positive samples were further subjected to virus isolation and resulted in three isolates. The results of the Panbio NS1 antigen capture ELISA, SD bioline Dengue NS1 antigen test, RT-PCR and virus isolation were correlated among themselves. Conclusions: The present study comprehensively established the utility of NS1 antigen ELISA in early diagnosis of dengue infection.

Amplification of LDH gene from indian strains of Plasmodium vivax.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Plasmodium vivax is geographically widespread and responsible for > 50% of malaria cases in India. Increased drug resistance of the parasite highlights the immediate requirement of early and accurate diagnosis as well as new therapeutics. In view of this, the present study was undertaken to amplify P. vivax (Indian strains) lactate dehydrogenase gene (PvLDH) which has been identified as a good target for antimalarials as well as diagnostics. METHODS: P. vivax infected clinical blood samples were collected from southern part of India and were tested with established diagnostic parameters (ICT, Giemsa staining). Total DNA was extracted from blood samples and subjected to PCR using two sets of primers, one for the amplification of full PvLDH gene (951 bp) and the other for a partial PvLDH gene fragment (422bp), covering a variable antigenic region (140aa) as compared to other plasmodial species. RESULTS & CONCLUSION: PCRs for both the full and partial gene targets were optimised and found to be consistent when tested on several P. vivax positive clinical samples. In addition, full gene PCR was found to specifically detect only P. vivax DNA and could be used as a specific molecular diagnostic tool. These amplified products can be cloned and expressed as a recombinant protein that might be useful for the development and screening of antimalarials as well as for diagnostic purposes.

Bioassay of three sulphur containing compounds as rat attractant admixed in cereal-based bait against Rattus rattus Linn.

Three sulphur containing compounds, carbon disulphide, dimethyl disulphide and dimethyl sulphide were bioassayed for preference after admixing them in cereal base as ready bait block for use against commensal rat, R. rattus (wild type) in four way choice chamber system. Rat preference for different baits was also studied with automatic recording animal activity meter. Rats exhibited attractancy to the baits at 0.005% concentration of all the three compounds while at 0.01% concentration they have showed repellency. Dimethyl sulphide at 0.005% concentration showed better attractancy towards both sexes of rat.

Role of esterases and monooxygenase in the deltamethrin resistance in Anopheles stephensi Giles (1908), at Mysore.

Field collected An. stephensi larvae were colonized in the laboratory for 15 generations and acclimatized. An isofemale line was raised from this colony and the larvae were subjected to continuous deltamethrin selection pressure. LC50 and LC90 values were calculated at every generation. The values indicated that at the end of seventh generation the larvae have developed 87 fold tolerance in terms of LC50 value compared with the first generation. The reason for this kind of resistance was analyzed on the basis of differential activity of A-esterase, B-esterase, glutathione s-transferase (GST) and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD). A significant correlation (P < 0.05) was observed with B-esterase and G6PD activity with the rise in the LC50 and LC90 values. However no significant rise were observed in the other enzymes tested such as A-esterase and GST. The isozyme analysis of the A-esterase and B-esterase using polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) have shown differential profiles.

Deltamethrin tolerance & associated cross resistance in Aedes aegypti from Mysore.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The indiscriminate use of insecticides in public health and agriculture has led to the development of resistance to these insecticides in the vector mosquitoes. To understand the development of resistance to synthetic pyrethroids, selection studies on Aedes aegypti were done at Mysore. METHODS: Ae. aegypti collected from the field were subjected to selection experiment with deltamethrin for 16 generations in the laboratory. Cross resistance test was conducted against permethrin and fenvalerate. RESULTS: Tolerance level was found to increase by 333.83 folds in terms of its LC50 values. Cross resistance of this deltamethrin selected line was tested against permethrin and fenvalerate. The results show that the selected line has developed cross resistance as much as 5.19 and 5.92 folds respectively against permethrin and fenvalerate. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: The findings show a continuous elevation in tolerance in Ae. aegypti with increase in deltamethrin selection pressure, and development of cross resistance to other insecticides of the same class. The natural or developed tolerance has its implications in the control of these mosquitoes.

Development of malathion resistance in Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae).

A malathion resistant colony of C. quinquefasciatus was developed in the laboratory. LC50 and LC90 for larvae were calculated at every generation and the values were 0.3 ppm and 1.13 ppm for first generation and 61.09 ppm, 136.3 ppm for 25th generation respectively. The fold increase in LC50 and LC90 were 2036 and 2726 folds respectively. Cross resistance against propoxur and chlorpyrifos showed 6.64 and 6.52 fold and 600 and 720 fold increase in their LC50 and LC90 values respectively. Triphenyl phosphate (TPP) and piperonyl butoxide (PB) were used as synergists and TPP indicated proportional decrease in LC50 and LC90 values while not much change was observed with PB. No change in biotic potential (larval hatchability, adult emergence and male and female ratio) between susceptible and malathion resistant colonies was observed.

Mosquito repellency & toxicity of isomeric N, N-diethyltolylacetamides.

Three isomers of N, N-diethyltolylacetamides were synthesized and evaluated against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus for repellency and with mice for LD50, as an indicator of mammalian toxicity. Of these, N, N-diethyl-p-tolylacetamide (DEPTA) showed comparatively better repellency against C. quinquefasciatus. All the compounds showed higher repellency against C. quinquefasciatus than Ae. aegypti. In addition, N, N-diethyl-m-tolylacetamide (DEMTA) was found to be least toxic to mice.