ABSTRACT
Background: In the absence of treatment and unclear prognosis, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) itself, and public health measures like lockdown enforced by the government to limit the spread of the virus poses a threat to the psychological health of the general population. Aim: To assess the psychological status of the Indian population during the initial phase of lockdown. Method: It was a cross-sectional online survey where the questionnaire was disbursed by snowballing. The link to the survey was shared in different social networking platforms between 6th and 22nd of April 2020. The questionnaire collected responses related to the sociodemographic variables, exposure history, precautionary measures used, and the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) score. Results: A total of 541 participants responded to the questionnaire. Only 422 respondents’ responses from 23 states of India who completed the questionnaire were included for assessment. The mean age of the participants was 30.5 (SD=10.9) years. Female constituted 60.4% (n=255) of the respondents. The pre-existing medical illness that the respondents had were diabetes mellitus, four per cent (n=17), hypertension, five per cent (n=21), thyroid dysfunction, nine per cent (n=38), and mental illness, five per cent (n=21). The median (IQR) of the DASS-21 item scale was found to be 16 (4-32). The percentage of the respondents who reported stress was 35.5% (n=149), anxiety, 32% (n=135), and depression, 34.7% (n=146). Respondents with sociodemographic variables like being single, student status, competed education till graduation, homemakers, working in public sector, and history of mental illness were more likely to experience stress, anxiety, and depression. A majority of the respondents were practicing hand hygiene and social distancing. Respondents who were unaware of their exposure status were more likely to have depression. Conclusion: The Indian population is experiencing the psychological impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which may increase with the spread of the infection. India needs to gear up to face mental health consequences. People with a pre-existing physical and psychological illness needs extra care and precaution to prevent any relapse or development of complications.
ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected people globally by causing psychological, social, and economic chaos. The Assam Police, India started telephone helplines to address the psychological issues. Aims: To evaluate the sociodemographic profile of the distress callers, their psychosocial concerns, the interventions provided by the service provider, and whether the service users were satisfied with the intervention(s) or not. Method: It was a cross-sectional study done during the period of lockdown (7-24 April 2020). All the callers who called the helpline were screened for anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts (when required), and the psychosocial issues which they were facing were explored. They were provided the psychological intervention(s) at the appropriate time, and they were asked to rate their experience at the end. Results: A total of 239 callers used the tele-counselling services. The majority of callers were male (79.1%). Most of the callers were between 19-35 years of age group (66.5%), married (52.5%), and graduates (31%). Two-thirds of the callers called to seek guidance for their own issues and one-third for their relatives or friends. Callers had anxiety (46%), depressive disorder (8.3%), and depressive symptoms not qualifying for depressive disorder (14%), and suicidal thoughts (5.44%). The commonest intervention provided to the callers was supportive (77.8%), followed by psychoeducation (30.5%), cognitive behaviour therapy (24.7%), relaxation (23.6%) and behaviour therapy (13.4%). Most of the callers utilised more than one type of therapy. Overall, most of the callers were satisfied and appreciated the tele-counselling services. Conclusion: The findings could help in formulating psychological interventions to improve the mental health of vulnerable groups in the post-COVID-19 period to reduce psychiatric morbidity and mortality.
ABSTRACT
Blood cultures with strains of aerobic, facultative and obligate anaerobic bacteria were studied by quantitative direct gas liquid chromatography for early diagnosis of bacteraemias. Small amounts of volatile and nonvolatile fatty acids were detected in uninoculated blood cultures. Bacteroides fragilis produced acetic (27.6 mumol/ml), propionic (1.0 mumol/ml), isovaleric, (0.6 mumol/ml), lactic (4.5 mumol/ml) and succinic (2.7 mumol/ml) acids after 48 h. Blood cultures inoculated with Clostridium perfringens and Fusobacterium nucleatum produced large amount of butyric acid (2.5 and 18.8 mumol/ml respectively) along with acetic, propionic, lactic and succinic acids on day 2 of incubation. Blood cultures with Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Staphylococcus aureus, beta-haemolytic streptococci (group A) produced only acetic, lactic and succinic acids. Pseudomonas aeruginosa produced only small amounts of succinic (0.6 mumol/ml) and acetic acids (2.4 mumol/ml) on day 5 of incubation. Blood cultures inoculated with anaerobic bacteria produced multiple volatile fatty acids within 24 to 48 h of incubation. Since these acids could be detected earlier than the organism in cultures, they may be useful in the early diagnosis of anaerobic bacteraemias/septicaemias.