Urinary Schistosomiasis Detected by Chance in India : A Case Report.

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic trematode that is lesscommonly seen in India. The clinical manifestationsrange from acute, sub acute and chronic phases. Agranulomatous type of lesion formed by Schistosomahematobium in the lower urinary tract. We present acase of rare neglected tropical infection in this part ofDakshin Kannada. A 66-year-old man presents withhistory of irritative voiding symptoms, urgency,incontinence, and nocturia of 2 months duration. CTUrogram showed bladder wall thickening. Cystoscopyshowed granuloma in the posterolateral wall of thebladder. Urine microscopy picked up Schistosomahematobium eggs. Bladder biopsy showed chronicinflammatory type of lesion. This is a case of confirmedchronic granulomatous urinary schistosomiasis in anon-endemic region, and successfully treated.Clinicians should become aware of the existence of thisparasite in few pockets in India.

Fecal Contamination of Drinking Water Supplies in and around Chandigarh and Correlation with Acute Gastroenteritis.

The study evaluated drinking water from localities in and around Chandigarh for fecal coliforms, V.cholerae and Enterotoxigenic E.coli and correlate with occurrence of acute gastroenteritis occurring from the same region. Drinking water sample were collected from various sources from the defined area. Samples were tested for fecal coliforms and E.coli count by multiple tube method and pathogens by membrane filtration technique. E. coli were screened for heat labile toxin (LT) by the reverse passive agglutination method and heat stable toxin (ST) by ELISA. Stool samples from cases of acute gastroenteritis from the same region and time were collected and processed for V. cholerae, Enterotoxigenic E coli (ETEC) and others like Salmonella, Shigella and Aeromonas spp. Of 364 water samples examined, 116 (31.8%) samples were contaminated with fecal coliforms (58.5% rural, 33.4% semi-urban and 11.1% from urban areas). E. coli were grown from 58 samples. Ninety-two isolates of E. coli were tested for enterotoxins of which 8 and 24 were positive for LT and ST respectively. V. cholerae were isolated from 2 samples during the outbreak investigation. Stored water samples showed a significantly higher level of contamination and most of Enterotoxigenic E. coli were isolated from stored water samples. A total of 780 acute gastroenteritis cases occurred; 445 from semiurban, 265 rural and 70 from urban areas. Out of 189 stool samples submitted, ETEC were the commonest (30%) followed by V. cholerae (19%), Shigellae (8.4%), Salmonellae (2.1%) and Aeromonas (2.6%). ST-ETEC (40/57) were commoner than LT- ETEC(17/57). In the present study, high levels of contamination of drinking water supplies (32.1%) correlated well with cases of acute gastroenteritis. Majority of cases of acute gastroenteritis occurred in the semi-urban area corresponding with high level of contamination (33.4%). The highest level of water contamination was seen in rural areas (58.5%) but the number of acute gastroenteritis cases were lesser (33.9%) as ponds were infrequently used for drinking purpose. Safer household water storage and treatment is recommended to prevent acute gastroenteritis, together with point-of-use water quality monitoring.

Occurrence of ESBL & Amp-C beta-lactamases & susceptibility to newer antimicrobial agents in complicated UTI.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Production of extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) and AmpC beta-lactamases are the most common mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in Gram negative bacilli. A prospective study was undertaken to know the occurrence of ESBL and AmpC producing strains and their antibiotic susceptibilities to newer agents to guide empirical therapy for complicated urinary tract infections. METHODS: Over a period of five months (January to May 2003), organisms grown in pure culture and in significant numbers from urine sample were identified by standard biochemical tests and antibiotic susceptibility determined by disc diffusion method. Gram-negative bacilli that were resistant to third generation cephalosporins, ciprofloxacin and gentamicin/amikacin were defined as highly drug resistant uropathogens (HDRU). HDRU were further tested for ESBL and AmpC phenotypes. RESULTS: Uropathogens were isolated in significant numbers in 1979 (21.8%) of the total 9,072 samples, of which 438(22.1%) were HDRU. Two hundred and five consecutive HDRU isolates were tested for ESBL production and 36.5 per cent were found to be ESBL producers. The highest positivity was found to be in Klebsiella spp. (51.2%), followed by Escherichia coli (40.2%), Enterobacter aerogenes (33.4%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (27.9%). Both ESBL producers and non producers showed a high degree resistance to piperacillin (93.1 and 90.9%), amoxycillin-clavulanic acid (93.4 and 90.9%), aztreonam (79.4 and 78%), cefepime (76.7 and 78%), and ampicillin-sulbactam (76.7 and 70.4%). The most effective antibiotics for ESBL producers were imipenem (8.2% resistance), piperacillin-tazobactam (9.5%) and ceftazidime-clavulanic acid (23.2%). Among ESBL non-producers, piperacillin-tazobactam (31.06%), ceftazidime-clavulanic acid (49.2%) and imipenem (11%) were less effective when compared to ESBL producers. Fifty three piperacillin and piperacillin-tazobactam positive and 20 negative isolates were further tested for AmpC production and found that all 53 positive isolates were also positive by for AmpC beta-lactamase. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Overall, 22.1 per cent of our isolates were highly drug resistant, and ESBL producers could explain only 36.5 per cent of HDRU in our study. Therefore, we assume that AmpC beta-lactamases are more important in our setting. Based on our finding a test using discs containing piperacillin and piperacillin-tazobactam ( PtPc) disc at a distance of 20 mm would act as a useful screening procedure for AmpC production as AmpC beta-lactamase producers are more susceptible to tazobactam as compared to clavulanic acid.

Re-emergence of multi-drug resistant Shigella dysenteriae with added resistance to ciprofloxacin in north India & their plasmid profiles.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: Multi drug resistant Shigellae pose a major threat in control of shigellosis with. Shigella dysenteriae being the most prevalent species at our centre before 1994. A gradual decrease in S. dysenteriae occurred over the years with a corresponding increase in S. flexneri which became the predominant serotype. From May to November 2003, an increase in number of patients admitted with clinical diagnosis of dysentery was noted in comparison to previous years, with a corresponding increase in the isolation of multi drug resistant S. dysenteriae. We report here the re-emergence of multi drug resistant S. dysenteriae at our tertiary care centre in north India after a gap of about 10 yr. Plasmid analysis of S. dysenteriae was also performed to study the origin and clonality of the isolates. METHODS: Stool samples were collected in Cary-Blair medium and processed by standard methods. Shigellae were confirmed by serotyping. Minimum inhibitory concentration was done by agar dilution method and E-test. Plasmid profiling of 18 isolates (16 S. dysenteriae 1 and 2 S. dysenteriae 2) was performed by modified alkali lysis method. Clinical details of patients were noted. RESULTS: A total of 64 patients with dysentery were admitted during the study period. Patients presented with unusually severe symptoms and six developed complications. Treatment failure with ciprofloxacin occurred in six patients who received cefotaxime and amikacin. There were 38 children below 5 yr of age. S. dysenteriae (18 isolates of S. dysenteriae 1 and 2 isolates of S. dysenteriae 2) were isolated from 20 of the 64 (31.2%) stool samples. S. dysenteriae re-emerged as the commonest isolate after a gap of nearly 10 yr. Fourteen of the 20 S. dysenteriae isolates were multi drug resistant; 12 were resistant to ciprofloxacin with MIC of 8-32 mug/ml. Plasmid profile analysis revealed that 6 of 11 ciprofloxacin resistant S. dysenteriae 1 had similar profiles. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Emergence of a clone of ciprofloxacin resistant S. dysenteriae 1 in north India is disturbing as treatment options in our geographic area are limited in view of already existing high drug resistance to nalidixic acid, co-trimoxazole and amoxycillin. A close monitoring of shifts in serogroup distribution and antibiotic resistance is required to guide clinicians for treatment of shigellosis.