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Introduction Hospital-acquired or nosocomial infections caused by the rapidly emerging bacteria vancomycin-resistant enterococci can be dangerous and even fatal. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the presence of enterococci in various clinical specimens along with their vancomycin resistance status and biofilm-producing capabilities. Methods A total of 164 Enterococcus species were isolated and further included in this study. Isolation and identification were done by the standard bacteriological procedure, antibiotic susceptibility testingwas done by clinical laboratory standard guidelines, and biofilm production test was done by microtiter plate methods. Results Among the total of 164 isolates, Enterococcus faecalis constituted 60.97% and Enterococcus faecium constituted 39.02%. Maximum isolates were from urine samples. The prevalence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus was 6.70%, and 18.29% of Enterococcus isolates were biofilm producers. The sensitivity among the biofilm producers was maximum for linezolid (87.33%), followed by teicoplanin (86.43%) and vancomycin (79.64%). Conclusion High prevalence of enterococci was found in urine samples and biofilm producers Enterococcus isolates were more antibiotic-resistant than non-biofilm producers.
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Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the main causes of mortality among infectious diseases. The prevalence of tuberculosis is very high in developing countries such as India. Mantoux test is frequently used for the diagnosis of latent or active tuberculosis despite low sensitivity and specificity. However, the Mantoux test is a crucial test in a resource-less setup for the diagnosis of TB. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to find the dropout rate and dropout reasons in Mantoux testing. Methodology: All suspected TB patients attending out-patient department and further tested for Mantoux test. Results: Of the total 789 Mantoux tests, 459 (58%) were negative, 195 (25%) were positive, and 135 (17%) were dropouts. One of the main reasons for dropout was patients did not give importance to the Mantoux test. Conclusion: Dropout rate in Mantoux testing can be reduced by patient counseling regarding TB and Mantoux test by the doctor.
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INTRODUCTION: Hand hygiene play crucial role in infectious control. The present research is on accessing Knowledge, attitude, and practice of nursing staff regarding hand washing. Human hands are covered with several commensal and pathogenic microorganism. Pathogenic bacterial species especially Staphylococcus species are the most common to participate in nosocomial infections. METHODS: Total 300 hand swab samples were taken from 150 nursing staffs followed by filling the questionnaire form. Standard culture media (Blood agar and MacConkey agar) were used to isolate the microorganisms. Microbial identification was done by using standard biochemical tests. RESULTS: Our study concluded that over all staff members had moderate knowledge and attitude regarding hand washing. Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus isolates were the most dominant bacteria. Occurrence of Staphylococcus aureus was relatively less. CONCLUSIONS: Creating awareness and education regarding hand hygiene would definitely increase the attitude and practice of health care workers to minimizing the nosocomial infection.
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The study was designed to compare the efficacy of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) and sodium chloride (NaCl) decontamination method with N-acetyl L-Cystine (NALC) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) decontamination (the reference method) method for the recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) from clinically suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. To evaluate CPC-NaCl and NALC-NaOH decontamination methods, sputum specimens (n = 796) were studied (culturing on Löwenstein-Jensen medium), and the performances were compared. The CPC-NaCl decontamination method demonstrated a sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value of 97.99%, 87.53%, 70.19%, and 99.32%, respectively, when compared to NALC-NaOH decontamination method. In summary, CPC-NaCl decontamination method effectively detected significantly higher number of MTB cases (n = 208) than NALC-NaOH decontamination method (n = 149) particularly in sputum with scanty bacilli and smear-negative cases, indicating the potential of CPC-NaCl decontamination method to preserve paucibacillary cases more efficient than NALC-NaOH decontamination method.
