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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is currently evolving and associated with more complications with invasive fungal infection like mucormycosis. Classically, uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (DM) and other immunosuppressive conditions like corticosteroid therapy are known risk factors for causing mucormycosis in COVID-19 patients. Mucormycosis is an invasive fungal infection which rapidly spread to the orbit and brain from the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. Mucormycosis in COVID-19 is a fatal to the patient. There is possibility of COVID-19 as a trigger factor for diabetic ketoacidosis which predisposes to invasive fungal infections such as mucormycosis. Patients with poorly controlled DM and immunocompromised conditions increase the risk for development of COVID-19 infections in COVID-19 patients. During the current COVID-19 pandemic, a myriad of clinical manifestations and complications are emerged. Rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis is a fatal clinical entity associated with COVID-19 infections resulting in higher morbidity and mortality. The treatment includes both medical and surgical interventions. It requires early and adequate treatment with amphotericin B and surgical debridement and control of risk factors. A multidisciplinary approach by otorhinolaryngologists, ophthalmologists, neurologists, and dentists is successful for treatment of COVID-19 patients with mucormycosis in the head-and-neck region. Identification of the risk factors and early preventive measures will minimize the incidence of life-threatening mucormycosis in the head-and-neck area of COVID-19 patients.
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Background: Hospitalised COVID-19 patients are known to exhibit varying degrees of immune dysfunction, few modifiable risk factors have been identified to improve this state of which one is the immune modulator effects of vitamin D. Vitamin D is being prescribed as a treatment of COVID-19 in a few guidelines as there is generalised assumption that vitamin D enhances immunity during this illness. So this is an attempt to find out whether a deficiency of vitamin D is associated with the severity of COVID-19. Aim: To study the relationship of serum 25 hydroxy vitamin D [25(OH)D] deficiency with disease severity in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods: The present case-control study compared serum 25(OH)D levels among Mild to moderate and severe COVID- 19 patients. Around 39 diagnosed and Hospitalised Severe COVID- 19 disease are compared with 39 Hospitalised Mild and Moderate COVID-19 disease in Care Hospital, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India between April 1, 2021, ad August 31, 2021. Patients were divided into 2 groups. The Group 1-Mild to Moderate infection with CT Severity index < 10/25 and Group 2-Severe Infection with HRCT Chest of CTSI >10/25. As per hospital policy, severe infection patients were kept in Critical Care Area and Mild infection patients were kept in Ward/Cabin areas. Any patients becoming sick and being transferred to critical areas are shifted from Group 1 to Group 2 after HRCT chest. Vitamin D levels (25 D Cholecalciferol) are done on the day of admission by chemiluminescence immunoassay test after taking due consent from the patients/attenders. The level of cut-off used in our study is 20 ng/mL. The association was analysed using regression analysis and other statistical methods. Results: The status of 25(OH)D deficiency (present/absent with cut-off being 20 ng/mL) showed no significant difference among cases and control at p < 0.05. Chi-square statistics with Yates correction is 1.8909. The p value is 0.169099. So there were no significant differences in vitamin D3 levels between Mild to moderate and Severe COVID- 19 patients. Conclusion: 25(OH)D levels appear to have no strong association with disease severity amongst hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Hence, its prescription for COVID-19 treatment as well as prevention needs to be reconsidered.
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Background: COVID 19 pandemic created immense mental & physical agony among human beings worldwide. The present study was conducted to assess the physical, mental, social and spiritual wellbeing of young adults and the elderly, during the lock-down phase of COVID-19. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among 227 healthy adults in Bhubaneswar, capital of Odisha. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire pertaining to the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of participants. Results: During the lockdown, around two-thirds (65.4%) of the participants reported feeling helpless. The elderly felt more helpless than the young adults. One-third (73, 32.6%) of the participants experienced health issues during the lockdown period. The majority of the study participants (83.8%) mentioned that their family members shared tasks during lockdown which was a very positive sign observed in this study. Faith in God for the elderly and family support for the young adults made them mentally stronger. Conclusion: Managing pandemic needs a multipronged approach. But focusing on psychosocial health will prevent future unseen mental health pandemics and improve the resilience of mankind. © 2022, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine. All rights reserved.
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BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to spread all over world and is outpacing the resources and capacity of health care systems. This rapidly spreading COVI D-19 infection is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and has been challenging the medical community and keeping the whole world in great threat to an unprecedented degree. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review article is to describe details of social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing face masks including there role in controlling the current COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: We conducted an electronic search of Google Scholar, Scopus, Medline and PubMed databases for articles between June to September 2021. RESULTS: The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus is transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets or contact with an infected person. There are no established medications and vaccine available until now to restrain the transmission of the COVID-19 infection. Currently, social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing a mask are key steps to lower the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in COVID-19 pandemic. As this infection is highly contagious via a respiratory pathway through coughing, sneezing and contact with an infected surface, the spread can be reduced by the proper practice of social distancing, hand hygiene or frequent hand washing and wearing mask. These universal precautions should be done as COVID-19 patients may be asymptomatic. CONCLUSION: Social distancing, hand washing and wearing face masks are cheap and widely acceptable methods for the prevention of the COVID-19 infection. The goal of this review paper is to discuss social distancing, hand hygiene and face mask information, including its role in managing the current COVID-19 pandemic
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Amorphophallus paeoniifolius is a very common tuber plant having diverse secondary metabolites and palatability levels. Keeping the problems of food shortage & novel infectious diseases throughout the world, an attempt has been made through fieldworks during 2009 to 2020 to gather the information on its ethnobotany, bioactive compounds from lab work and pharmacological properties from secondary sources to make it future nutraceutical against food disorders & novel microbial diseases. The tuber is used as food and medicines, it is rich with primary & secondary metabolites and its extracts are used to treat various infectious diseases. The compounds present in the species have potential to make novel drugs against present health problems throughout the world. The present study highlights the importance of wild tuberous plants in mitigation of food shortage, food disorders, anti-microbial resistance, novel bacterial & viral diseases like MDR-TB and COVID-19.
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Aim and objective: The aim and objective of this case series is to enlighten the effect of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection in pregnant patients with sickle cell disease. Background: The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 infection continues to challenge healthcare providers with the countless number of waves ravaging across the globe, questioning some of the intransigent beliefs regarding behavior of viruses. COVID-19 creates a milieu of thrombotic state which is of particular importance in cases who are already at risk like those with sickle cell disease especially that in a pregnant population. Thus, we share here three case reports of sickle cell disease patients who came out COVID-positive during pregnancy. Case description: We discuss three cases of pregnant patients with history of sickle cell disease who were COVID-19-positive and were treated on an in-patient basis. All of them presented with symptoms of crisis, but all three cases responded well to therapy and were subsequently discharged in a stable condition. Conclusion: Our experience with these three cases was that all of them presented with symptoms of crisis, however, were these caused by the presence of the coexisting COVID-19 infection is a subject to further research. Clinical significance: In the era of pandemic, especially in case of a new contagion, it is of immense importance to document and share as much as possible regarding the behavior of the virus in patients with different comorbid conditions. While there are much literature available of the clinical picture of COVID-19 in case of the more common comorbidities like diabetes mellitus and hypertension, there is a significant lack in availability of proper literary guidance in case of some rarer but significant conditions like hemoglobinopathies. We hope our case series creates a paradigm for future research on the role of COVID-19 in more uncommon comorbidities. © The Author(s).
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Objective: To study the COVID-19 associated mucormycosis in the head and neck region of the patients along with patient details, clinical manifestations and management. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and retrospective study of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) carried out at a postgraduate teaching hospital. This study was conducted between March 2020 to April 2021. A patient profile such as age, sex, comorbidities, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment of the CAM were analyzed. Results: There were 11 patients of CAM were enrolled in this study. There were eight male and three female patients, aged from 3 years to 72 years. Out of the 11 patients, 8 were diabetic (72.72%). Three patients (27.27%) were taking prolonged systemic steroids with a long hospital ICU stay. One child (9.09%) was under chemotherapy for acute leukemia. The common clinical symptoms were facial swelling, facial pain, nasal block and nasal discharge. The diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination and fungal culture with Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) showing Rhizopus oryzae. All were treated with endoscopic surgical debridement and amphotericin B. One case died because of cerebral involvement. Conclusion: Early diagnosis and prompt treatment for CAM are required. Aggressive endoscopic surgical debridement for local control and appropriate systemic antifungal treatment will help to improve the prognosis and survival of the patients. © 2021
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The present paper is based on a survey method while attempts have been made to assess the knowledge of the Anganwadi workers who are working as frontline workers during the widespread COVID-19 epidemic at Gosani block of Paralakhemundi municipality, Gajapati district. For the study, structured questionnaire was distributed among the total workers i.e. 350 covering 163 Anganwadi worker centres of 16 wards of Paralakhemundi Municipality. The survey was conducted from March to April 2021 at the beginning stage of the second outbreak of COVID-19. The main purpose of the study is to understand the knowledge of Anganwadi workers with regards to the COVID-19 guidelines. In this regard, focus has been made to analyse knowledge on the four general aspects of COVID-19 including stress level of Anganwadi workers because stress management during this pandemic is essential. Thus, analysis has been made on the use of information sources, knowledge on preventive practices, knowledge on maintaining social distance, knowledge on the use of personal protective equipments (PPE) and causes of stress to manage the situation. The study finds that social media like Whatsapp groups, mobile messages are the principal sources of information for them. The workers have clear knowledge on preventive measures such as hand sanitisation, maintenance of social distance and use of personal protective equipments (PPE). The job is stressful for the workers due to the less educated rural people, their carelessness towards the disease, hiding of the symptoms by the individuals and work overload © 2021, Library Philosophy and Practice. All Rights Reserved.
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Aim: Mucormycosis is a rare but severe fungal infection, particularly found in immunocompromised patients. Currently this dreaded mucormycosis is rising among COVID-19 paediatric patients during their treatment period or after their discharge from hospital. It is also called as black fungus. The aim of this study is to evaluate the COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) in head and neck region of the paediatric patients with its clinical manifestations and management. Material and methods: This is a descriptive and prospective study of paediatric patients with COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) carried out at a postgraduate teaching hospital. This study was conducted between March 2020 to April 2021. Patient profile such as age, sex, comorbidities, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment of the CAM were analysed. There were 12 paediatric patients of CAM were enrolled in this study. Results: Out of 12 paediatric patients of CAM, there were eight male and four female patients, aged from 3 years to 16 years. Out of the 12 patients, 3 were diabetic (25%). Three patients (25%) were taking prolonged systemic steroids with prolonged hospital ICU stay. Two children (16.66%) were under chemotherapy for acute leukaemia. The common clinical symptoms were facial swelling, facial pain, nasal block and nasal discharge. Diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination. All were treated with endoscopic surgical debridement and amphotericin B. Two patients were passed away;one was due to cerebral involvement and another was due to respiratory failure by pneumonia. Conclusions: Early identification and prompt treatment in paediatric patients with CAM are required. Aggressive endoscopic surgical debridement for local control and appropriate systemic antifungal treatment will help to improve the prognosis and survival of the patients.
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In December, the outbreak of a new Corona virus disease called as Covid-19 in China triggered the infection and deaths of many including medical personnel. The disease is extremely infectious since in extreme cases it can be fatal and there are no specific medications. Being the front line workers this poses a huge risk to the lives and welfare of nurses and has a significant effect on their emotional reactions and coping with strategies. This study would also explore emotional reactions and coping with styles for nursing students. A famous parameter that motivated people to practice protective behaviour either directly or indirectly was Covid-19 data searching across the four forms of digital media. This is a study based on survey of 24 nursing institutions. In order to curb its spread, timely access to quality healthcare information during an outbreak plays an important role. The outcome revealed that women showed more serious fear and anxiety than men. The purpose of this study was to analyse the criteria of information needs and seeking behaviour of nursing students in Bhubaneswar during the pandemic outbreak of Covid-19. For data collection, a pretested questionnaire was used. The result shows that students are strongly eager to know about information on causes of covid-19 virus;social media and internet are two main sources of information, most of the students seek information to help someone who was looking for information and the commonly barrier of information is lack of time. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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Democratization of education has formed the base for open and free education. The movement of Open Education is gaining its impetus through the emerging trends of new educational technologies. In the context of OER (Open Education Resource), the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) concept is providing a framework for virtual classroom and collaborative learning. ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM), as an Indian MOOC, has been providing several courses in various disciplines. The present study tries to analyse the courses in engineering and technology category on SWAYAM during the COVID-19 situation. The present study has critically analysed the courses. The analysis of present study shows the trends of learners' interest in engineering and technology discipline. The present study summarizes that the most sought after area is computer science and engineering, followed by a multidisciplinary sub-category. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), is the course coordinator for a maximum number of courses, and IIT Kharagpur is that institute which provides maximum courses. © 2021. All Rights Reserved.