Effects of preprocedural mouth rinse on microbial load in aerosols produced during the ultrasonic scaling: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: During ultrasonic scaling, the harbored microorganisms in the oral cavity get aerosolized, which have important impacts on air quality and can cause a serious health threat to the clinician, patients, and the surroundings. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate whether preprocedural mouth rinse has any effect on bacterial load in aerosols generated during ultrasonic scaling. Materials and Methods: A total of 80 subjects with chronic periodontitis were selected and randomly grouped into four comprising twenty in each. The groups were based on the use of preprocedural mouth rinse: no rinse group (control) (A), and test groups with preprocedural mouth rinse with water (B), 0.2% Chlorhexidine gluconate (C), and herbal mouthwash (D). The aerosol produced during ultrasonic scaling was collected on blood agar plates positioned at the chest area of patients, operators, and assistants. Aerosol collected in the operatory before the procedure was considered as baseline. Colonies on the blood agar plates were counted after incubating at 37°C for 24 h. Pairwise comparisons involving positions and mouth rinses on microbial colonies were conducted using independent sample t-test and Tukey's test for post hoc analysis considering 0.05 as the significance level. Results: Microbial colonies were significantly reduced with chlorhexidine gluconate compared to that of others (P < 0.001), followed by herbal mouthwash and water. Again, microbial colonies were highest at the chest area of the operator and lowest at the chest area of the assistant. Conclusions: 0.2% Chlorhexidine gluconate is superior in reducing the microbial load in aerosols produced during ultrasonic scaling.

Occurrence of viral gastroenteritis in children below 5 years: A hospital-based study from Assam, India.

Viral gastroenteritis is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in children under 5 years of age. Many a time, these cases go unnoticed causing immense scarcity of data on viral diarrhoea. The study aimed to determine the occurrence of viral gastroenteritis among children below 5 years and the aetiological viral agents. Stool samples were collected from patients suffering from acute gastroenteritis. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was done for detection of rotavirus, adenovirus, norovirus, astrovirus and sapovirus. Viruses were detected in 55% of children. Adenovirus was found to be the most common virus (33.7%), followed by rotavirus infection (28.7%).

A rare case of ocular onchocerciasis in India.

Onchocerca volvulus is a spirurid nematode that mainly affects the rural poor of Sub-Saharan Africa, Yemen and parts of Central and South Africa. River blindness, caused by Onchocerca volvulus, is considered to be the second commonest infectious cause of blindness worldwide. We report a rare case of ocular onchocerciasis where a live adult worm was extracted from the eye of a patient from a nonendemic region. The worm was identified as Onchocerca volvulus based on morphological features. The patient was treated with Ivermectin (0.2 mg/kg). At six months follow-up she had complete remission of symptoms.