Detection of oral spirochete (Treponema denticola) by modified Fontana staining technique from sub-gingival plaques of patients suffering from periodontal disease and to analyse the morphology of spirochetes with respect to the disease’s status

Background:A large proportion of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) are manufactured and used widely in Nepal. This study aimed to evaluate the FDCs and its utilization in medicine department of tertiary care hospital. Methods:A cross-sectional study was conducted for 50 days among admitted patients in the medicine department of tertiary care hospital, Nepal. A predesigned form was used to collect the data at the time of patient discharge. Only the oral FDCs were selected for study.Microsoft Excel 2007 was used for statistical analysis and data were presented as number and percentage in tabulated and figure forms.Results:Oral FDCs were used in 27.08% of admitted patients. A total of 295 FDCs were prescribed in 208 patients with 44 FDC items in 58 different brand names. Categorically, the most commonly used FDCs were of analgesics (34.24%) followed by antibiotics (25.76%) and vitamin supplements (22.71%). The 27.27% of FDCs prescribed contain more than two active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) up to nine and the highest number of APIs were found in vitamin supplements. All FDCs were prescribed in the brand names. The very few 2.27% and 4.55% of FDCs were prescribed from the essential medicine list of Nepal and world health organization, respectively.Conclusions:The use of FDCs listed in essential medicine list was very poor. Similarly, generic prescribing was also zero. The regulatory body must study the rationality of FDC before production, marketing, importing, and utilization in hospital.

Bird flu in Nepal

Avian flu also known as bird flu is caused by deadly virus H5N1 which initially was found in birds and wild animals, however, later it was found in human beings causing severe respiratory related problems. This review article was performed to understand the epidemiology of outbreaks of H5N1 in different districts of Nepal. First outbreak of strain H5N1 was reported in 2009. Consequently, highest number of outbreaks i.e. 201 was noted in the year 2013. Till date only one human case was identified by NPHL which was later confirmed by genetic laboratory in Japan in collaborating with WHO.

Global outbreak of deadly measles in 2019

Measles is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, especially a Paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus, a single stranded negative sense RNA virus. Infants younger than 12 months, school-aged children or young adults depending upon local immunization practice are highly susceptible for the disease.