Incidence of Hookworm Infection Related Anemia in Children in a Teaching Hospital in Telangana.

Background: Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus are the blood sucking nematodes commonly called hookworms. They cause mild to severe anemia in patients especially children. The most common cause for hookworm infection is unhygienic conditions of the surroundings. Methods: 780 stool samples were collected from the children in wards, ICUs and schools. All the stool samples were subjected to wet mount by iodine and saline. They were also subjected to concentration technique by formalin ethyl acetate solution. Complete Blood Picture, estimation of Hemoglobin was done for all children for anemia and eosinophil testing. Results: 10.1% of the stool samples were positive for hookworms with 43 boys and 36 girls. 79.1% of the males and 88.3% of females were anemic with overall percentage being. Most of the children were from poor background with unhygienic conditions. Conclusion: Since most children belonged to poor background with unhygienic conditions, health education, improvement in sanitation, and mass treatment in affected areas can be tried.

Detection of enteric viruses in activated sludge by feasible concentration methods

Human enteric viruses are responsible to cause several diseases, including gastroenteritis and hepatitis, and can be present in high amounts in sewage sludge. This study compared virus recovery efficiency of two feasible concentration methods used for detecting human adenovirus (HAdV), rotavirus species A (RV-A), norovirus genogroup II (NoV GII) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) in sewage sludge from an activated sludge process. Twelve sewage sludge samples were collected bi-monthly from January to July, 2011. Ultracentrifugation was compared with a simplified protocol based on beef extract elution for recovering enteric viruses. Viruses were quantified by quantitative real-time PCR assays and virus recovery efficiency and limits of detection were determined. Methods showed mean recovery rates lower than 7.5%, presenting critical limits of detection (higher than 102 103 genome copies -GC L-1 for all viruses analyzed). Nevertheless, HAdV were detected in 90% of the analyzed sewage sludge samples (range: 1.8 x 104 to 1.1 x 105 GC L-1), followed by RV-A and NoV (both in 50%) and HAV (8%). Results suggesting that activated sludge is contaminated with high viral loads and HAdV are widely disseminated in these samples. The low virus recovery rates achieved, especially for HAV, indicate that other feasible concentration methods could be developed to improve virus recovery efficiency in these environmental matrices.

The efficiency of concentration methods used to detect enteric viruses in anaerobically digested sludge

The presence of enteric viruses in biosolids can be underestimated due to the inefficient methods (mainly molecular methods) used to recover the viruses from these matrices. Therefore, the goal of this study was to evaluate the different methods used to recover adenoviruses (AdV), rotavirus species A (RVA), norovirus genogroup II (NoV GII) and the hepatitis A virus (HAV) from biosolid samples at a large urban wastewater treatment plant in Brazil after they had been treated by mesophilic anaerobic digestion. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used for spiking experiments to compare the detection limits of feasible methods, such as beef extract elution and ultracentrifugation. Tests were performed to detect the inhibition levels and the bacteriophage PP7 was used as an internal control. The results showed that the inhibitors affected the efficiency of the PCR reaction and that beef extract elution is a suitable method for detecting enteric viruses, mainly AdV from biosolid samples. All of the viral groups were detected in the biosolid samples: AdV (90%), RVA, NoV GII (45%) and HAV (18%), indicating the viruses' resistance to the anaerobic treatment process. This is the first study in Brazil to detect the presence of RVA, AdV, NoV GII and HAV in anaerobically digested sludge, highlighting the importance of adequate waste management.

Bleach optimization of sputum smear microscopy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) aims to improve case detection rates of tuberculosis to facilitate prompt recognition and treatment. The low case detection rates in the programme can be directly attributed to failure to screen patients with suspected tuberculosis and the low sensitivity of the direct smear microscopy method to detect cases among the fraction of patients that are screened. Apart from low sensitivity, this method also has other disadvantages including the increased risk of infection transmission to technicians. There are several methods that can be used to improve sensitivity, but their applicability in a national programme and in resource limited settings are limited. Bleach processing of sputum smears prior to microscopy may be a cheap and effective way to improve on the sensitivity of the direct smear. Four distinctive techniques of sputum smear processing using bleach are described in the review, with the variations in each technique, along with the sensitivity. An analysis of reports published earlier on the bleach method is also presented including a discussion on when and why the bleach method works.

Studies on Establishing and Optimizing Conditions of Concentration Virus in Water Body / 微生物学通报

In this experiment six methods,calcium chloride(CaCl_(2)) precipitation,polyethylene glycol(PEG,pH7.0) precipitation,polyethylene glycol(PEG,pH11.5) precipitation,aluminum chloride(AlCl_(3)) precipitation,Amicon Utcra centrifugal filter devices and cellulose nitrate membrane were used to concentrate the vaccine poliovirus type 1(PV_(1)) added to water body;experimental conditions for concentration were selected and optimized.The results showed that two methods,CaCl_(2)and PEG(pH 7.0) precipitation were suitable for concentrating virus in large volumes of water while amicon utcra centrifugal filter devices for small ones.The virus recovery of the three methods reached a 100% rate.