ABSTRACT
Scrub typhus is a tropical febrile zoonotic disease caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi of the rickettsial family. These are obligate; intracellular Gram-negative coccobacilli transmitted by the bite of infected mites. It is usually underdiagnosed in India due to its varied and nonspecifi c clinical presentation, limited awareness, and low index of suspicion among clinicians and lack of diagnostic facilities. This study was planned to monitor the level of scrub typhus-specifi c antibodies among febrile patients in a tertiary care hospital over a period of 1 year for which a rapid qualitative immunochromatographic assay (Standard Diagnostics, Korea) was introduced for the detection of IgM, IgG and IgA antibodies to O. tsutsugamushi from the serum of suspected febrile patients. A total of 98 out of 772 fever patients (12.69%) tested positive for the presence of antibodies against O. tsutsugamushi. Persistent high-grade fever was the defi ning characteristic in all the cases with the presence of an eschar in only 10.2% (10/98) of cases. Three patients died during the study period while the rest responded to treatment with doxycycline.
ABSTRACT
The present study was designed to know the prevalence of Acinetobacter in various clinical samples, their characterization, antibiotic susceptibility pattern and relevance in various clinical samples in Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. Out of 3024 samples including pus, body fluids, blood, urine, drain tips, catheter tips and other appropriate samples, Acinetobacter was isolated in 255 (8.4%) samples. 66.6% isolates were sensitive to amikacin and 95% to cefaperazone/ sulbactam combination. This drug resistant nosocomial infection can be minimized to some extent by judicial use of antibiotics and adopting proper infection control measures.
ABSTRACT
Two hundred and thirty samples from suspected pulmonary and extra pulmonary cases of tuberculosis were processed for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by ZN smear examination, LJ medium culture, BACTEC radiometric culture and Polymerase Chain Reaction tests. A significant difference was seen in the sensitivities of different tests,ie.73.9% for PCR tests,34.78% for ZN smear examination, 52.17% for LJ culture and 58.69% for BACTEC culture. However,there was no significant difference in specificity of different tests(P> 0.05). PCR test sensitivity in pulmonary and extrapulmonary clinical samples was 74.0% and 78.5% respectively and found to be significantly higher (P<0.05) when compared with those of other tests. The mean detection time for M.tuberculosis was 24.03 days by LJ medium culture, 12.89 days by BACTEC culture and less than one day by PCR test.
ABSTRACT
Dengue with its severe manifestations- Dengue haemorrhagic fever(DHF) and Dengue shock syndrome(DSS) is now becoming an increasing threat in many parts of the world. An epidemic of febrile illness with haemorrhagic manifestations broke out in Ludhiana from September-November 2003. Serological investigations were conducted to find out the etiology of the febrile illness. Serum samples were collected from all patients coming to the hospital with acute symptoms and tested by ELISA for anti-dengue IgM antibodies. Of the 2309 samples tested, a total of 586 samples were positive for antidengue IgM antibodies and another 98 samples were reported to be in the grey zone. With epidemics occurring in the recent past both in 1996 and 1999, the febrile illness was serologically concluded to be dengue hemorrhagic fever.
ABSTRACT
A study of 233 consecutive patients with pneumonia was done in the Microbiology Department of the Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. Laboratory investigations like blood culture, sputum culture and serology were done to establish the diagnosis. Rates of isolation of organisms from blood culture, sputum culture and serology were 21.9%, 32% and 27.1% respectively. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella, pneumoniae, other gram negative organisms, fungi like candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus were isolated by culture AFB was isolated in 5% of cases. Serology for Mycoplasma and Chlamydia was positive in 16.5% and 17.6% of the patients respectively. An etiological diagnosis was made in 47.7% cases with a definitive evidence in 31% and presumptive evidence in 16.7%. No etiological diagnosis could be made in 52.3% cases. Best antibiotic sensitivity results for organisms isolated from sputum culture were from third generation cephalosporins followed by flouroquinolones and aminoglycosides. Blood culture sensitivities also revealed a similar pattern.