Seroprevalence Of Syphilis And Co-Infections With Hepatitis B Virus, Hepatitis C Virus And Hiv In A Tertiary Care Hospital In Mumbai

Syphilis does not only affect the individual but is also a public health problem. It also increases risk of HIV infection and can cause lifelong morbidity among children born to infected mothers. High risk behaviour like multiple sex partners and unsafe injection practices not only increases chances of acquiring HIV but increase the risk for HBV and HCV transmission. This study was undertaken to study the seroprevalence of Syphilis and co-infection with HIV, HBVand HCVin a tertiary care hospital of Mumbai. Material and Methods: A total of 4160 blood samples received in the Regional STI Training, Research and Reference Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Mumbai from patients attending the Suraksha clinic, referrals from high risk cases from peripheral hospitals, various STI clinics and ART patients were received from January to December 2016. Syphilis testing was performed using VDRL antigen from Institute of Serology, Kolkata. All the sera reactive in qualitative and quantitative VDRL test were confirmed for antitreponemal antibodies by TPHA test. Biological false positives (BFP) estimated Testing for HIV was done as per National guidelines. Hepatitis B surface Antigen and Hepatitis C virus antibody testing were done using ELISAmethods. Results: The seroprevalence of Syphilis in our study was 3% with BFP of 0.7 %. HIV, HBV and HCV seropositivity in the study was 6.63%, 3.36% and 1.73% respectively. The co-infection rate of HIV, HBV and HCV with Syphilis in the study was 0.21%, 0.16% and 0.07% respectively. Coinfection of HBVand HCVwith HIVwas 0.28% and 0.26% respectively. HBVand HCVco-infection was 0.04%. Conclusion: Public health interventions should be carried out to promote awareness of syphilis among physicians and populations at risk in India. The increased risk of acquiring HBV, HCVand HIVin STI clinic attendees warrants screening the high-risk population for these viral infections.

Salmonella brain abscess in an infant.

Brain abscess is an uncommon and serious life-threatening infection in children. Focal intracranial infections caused by Salmonella spp. in this age group are also rare. We report the case of a 4-month-old male infant with a frontoparietal brain abscess caused by Salmonella typhimurium, the presence of which was not suspected clinically.

Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of clinical isolates of non-fermentative bacteria.

152 nonfermentative bacteria were isolated from a total number of 965 clinical samples processed routinely in the laboratory of Microbiology Department, M.K.C.G Medical College in South Orissa accounting to a prevalence rate of 15.75%. Pseudomonas spp. (both pigmented and non-pigmented strains) were isolated in maximum percentage (73.6%) followed by Acinetobacter spp. (19.7%) and Alkaligenes faecalis (4.6%). Rarely encountered species were Eikenella corrodens (1.3%) and Stenotrophomonas maltophila (0.6%). Pus from various sites was the major source (116; 76%). 81% of all isolates were sensitive to amikacin and 74% to ofloxacin. Sensitivity to cefotaxime, ciprofloxacin, tobramycin, gentamicin and netlimycin ranged from 53% to 68%. Least effective drugs were carbenicillin and ceftriaxone (48% each).