Study of hand hygiene and enteroparasite infestation among food handlers working in a medical college of North India.

The present study was conducted to assess: 1) Prevalence of enteroparasite infestation among food handlers working in food service establishments located in the campus of a medical college, 2) Presence of enteric organisms on their hands and nails and their hand washing practices. A total of 151 food handlers were interviewed regarding their socio-demographic and professional characteristics. Their hand washing practices were also observed. Stool examination for enteroparasites and stool culture for Salmonella & Shigella and culture of nail clippings / nail bed swabs for detecting presence of enteric organisms were also carried out. Prevalence of enteroparasite infestation was observed to be 41.1%. None of the stool samples was observed to be positive for Salmonella or Shigella. Enteric organisms were isolated from nail clippings/nail bed swab samples of 76 (73.1%) study subjects. Hand washing practices were observed to be poor with low use of soap. Findings highlight importance of periodic stool examination and deworming of food handlers and need to educate them about importance of maintaining hand hygiene with a focus on improving their hand washing practices.

In vitro activity of ceftriaxone plus tazobactam against members of Enterobacteriaceae.

AIMS: To study the in vitro activity of ceftriaxone alone and in combination with the beta-lactamase inhibitor tazobactam against bacterial isolates belonging to the Family Enterobacteriaceae. METHODS: One hundred and five consecutive isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. that had been recovered from various high-risk areas of the hospital were included in the study. MIC estimation to ceftriaxone and a combination of ceftriaxone and tazobactam was performed by the agar dilution method. RESULTS: By the MIC studies, 88.6% of the strains appeared to be resistant to ceftriaxone with the MIC90 value being > 256 microg/ml. When the MIC were done to ceftriaxone in combination with tazobactam, the resistance rate dropped to 4.8% with the MIC90 value being 4.0 microg/ml. CONCLUSION: The combination of ceftriaxone and tazobactam appears to be an excellent therapeutic alternative with 94.6% of ceftriaxone resistant strains being susceptible in vitro to this combination.

Outbreak of Acinetobacter spp septicemia in a neonatal ICU.

An outbreak of Acinetobacter spp infection in the neonatal unit at Lok Nayak Hospital, New Delhi, India, is described. During a 6-month period, 68 strains of Acinetobacter baumannii were isolated from the blood and CSF of 47 neonates admitted to the intensive care unit. Diagnosis of clinically significant bacteremia was made in 36 patients. On environmental/personnel sampling, Acinetobacter spp isolates with similar antibiogram were recovered from intravenous catheter and washbasin. Control of the outbreak was possible only after strict infection control practices in the unit. It was concluded that any clinical multidrug resistant A. baumannii isolate can be a potential nosocomial outbreak strain.

Febrile episodes in childhood malignancies.

The objectives of the present report were to study the site of infections and pathogenic organisms during febrile episodes in different childhood malignant conditions, to correlate febrile episode with Absolute Neutrophil Count (ANC) and to know the sensitivity pattern of bacteria to different antibiotics so as to know the most appropriate antibiotic regimen in these children. The study material comprised of forty two febrile episodes occurring in children aged lt 12 years with various malignancies. All the episodes were worked up in detail including complete history, physical examination and relevant hematological, microbiological and radiological investigations. Out of the 42 episodes, 15 (36%) occurred in children with acute leukemias, 20 (48%) in children with lymphomas and 7(17%) in children with solid tumors. 26 (62%) episodes were seen in children during chemotherapy, while 12% each in freshly diagnosed and remission and 14% in relapse cases. 12 (28%) episodes occurred in children with ANC < 500/mm3. 36% were microbiologically confirmed. Klebsiella species was the commonest organism isolated followed by E. coli. Maximum sensitivity (75%) was seen with ciprofloxacin against both Klebsiella species and E.coli.