ABSTRACT
Hand hygiene is nowadays considered as one of the most important measures to prevent transmission and acquisition of HCAIs (health care associated infections). Monitoring hand hygiene compliance and providing healthcare workers with feedback regarding their performance are considered integral parts of a successful hand hygiene promotion programme. A total of 50 ICU staffs(resident doctors, faculty & nurses e.t.c.) were included in this interventional study. Baseline data of hand hygiene practices of all staffs and pre-intervention hand culture were obtained. Post intervention hand culture were taken after 30 days of training and interactive sessions as well as continous availability of ABHR in the ICU. Results of post-intervention hand culture showed a marked decrease in isolation of bacteria specially those of MRSAand ESBL. MRSAwas low by 35% and in non of the cases ESBL was reported. In all the ICUs frequency of hand hygiene was poor(average 31%) but improved significantly after intervention (70%).Introduction of ABHR was found to be an effective tool for improving hand hygiene. As a result of periodic training, monitoring, surveillance hand cultures and awareness generating campaign, transmission of resistant bacteria can be reduced, thus reducing the burden of nosocomial infection in a hospital set-up.
ABSTRACT
Fungal infections are common in humans worldwide. Hot and humid weather conditions in the tropical countries like India make humans very susceptible to fungal infections. Tinea capitis (TC) is the superficial fungal infection of the scalp and hair. The true incidence of Tinea capitis is unknown. although infection can occur at any age.Tinea capitis is one of the most common infectious conditions in children worldwide.Atotal of 100 subjects were enrolled in study who were attending Dermatology Out Patient Department (OPD) in a tertiary care hospital.Hair sample was taken and culture was done on Sabouraud's Dextrose Agar(SDA).Species identification was done by slide culture.T.tonsurans was most common isolate.
ABSTRACT
Emergence of a new species of non-albicans Candida species in Immunocompromised patient is a very alarming and life threatening trend. Accurate identification and prompt treatment in such patients is necessary to curtail mortality. Candida haemulonii as the name suggests is mostly isolated from blood culture. Susceptibility pattern of such isolates is important as most of them are not susceptible to the commonly used azole group of drugs rather they are susceptible to newer drugs like echinocandins. In such patient automated blood culture and susceptibility should be preferred over conventional blood culture so that early diagnosis and treatment can to some extent decrease the percentage of mortality.
ABSTRACT
Context: Giardiasis is one of the most common nonviral infections causing diarrheal illness worldwide. In this prospective cross-sectional study, we evaluated the RIDASCREEN® Giardia kit for detection of Giardia intestinalis in stool samples and compared the results with direct microscopy. Materials and methods: A total of 360 fecal samples were collected. They were then processed by wet fi lm, iodine preparation and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit to determine the presence of Giardia trophozoites and cysts. Statistical analysis was performed by sensitivity, specifi city, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy. Results and Conclusion: Of the 360 cases, 17.2% samples were positive for Giardia by direct microscopy and 23.6% were found to be positive by ELISA (sensitivity ∼97%), but specifi city was ∼92% only. Because of less specifi city, we need to perform ELISA in congruence with direct microscopy, etc. Further studies need to be performed on a larger sample size using other molecular tests in order to get more accurate estimations