Clinical and laboratory evidence of Trichomonas vaginalis infection among women of reproductive age in rural area.

BACKGROUND: Vaginitis is a commonly encountered complaint and one of the most frequent reasons for patient visit to obstetrician-gynaecologists. Three vaginal infections are frequent causes of a vaginal discharge: (1) bacterial vaginosis, (2) vulvovaginal candidiasis and (3) trichomonas vaginitis. Differences in the clinical presentation are helpful in diagnosis. Characteristic signs and symptoms for these three vaginal infections are distinct, but on many occasions, they are overlapping. The aim of the present study was to find the prevalence and correlation between the clinical spectrum and laboratory evidence of Trichomonas vaginalis infection by simple, reliable, confirmatory and specific method, i.e. microscopic examination of wet mount preparation and acridine stain of vaginal fluid. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Irrespective of HIV status, a total of 156 women with vaginal discharge were studied for establishing diagnosis of genital tract infection. The cases of bacterial vaginosis and vulvovaginal candidiasis were excluded from the study. Vaginal speculum assisted high vaginal swabs were collected from women with discharge, during collection vagina was inspected for obvious signs. RESULTS: Of the 156 women with vaginal discharge, 19 (12.06 %) showed T. vaginalis infection. All the women belonged to active reproductive age group, i.e. 20-40 years. Itching dysuria, and offensive, malodorous, thin, yellowish vaginal discharge were the main and consistent complaints. Only in 2 (1.52%) cases, vaginal speculum examination revealed erythema and punctuate haemorrhage, the so-called "strawberry' vagina. The pH was recorded to be >4.5. CONCLUSION: Clinical differentiation of various forms of infectious vaginitis is unreliable. The prevalence of T. vaginalis infection at 12.06% was found among rural young women of reproductive age using simple and reliable screening wet mount microscopy.

A rare case of human trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi.

Human trypanosoma infections like the ones seen in Africa and South America are unknown in India. The only exception in literature is of two documented cases of a self-limiting febrile illness, being attributed to Trypanosoma lewisi like parasites. We are reporting an unusual case of trypanosomiasis from the rural parts of Chandrapur district in Maharashtra. An adult male farmhand who used to practice veterinary medicine also, presented with history of febrile episodes on and off since five months and drowsiness before admission to this Institute. Though routine blood and other investigations were within normal limits, the peripheral smear showed a large number of trypanosomes which morphologically resembled the species Trypanosoma evansi, the aetiological agent of surra - a form of animal trypanosomiasis. A battery of assays covering the spectrum of parasitology, serology, and molecular biology confirmed the infecting parasite to be T. evansi. Failure to demonstrate the central nervous system (CNS) involvement, as evidenced by the absence of parasite in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) advocated the use of suramin - the drug of choice in early stage African trypanosomiasis without any CNS involvement. Suramin achieved cure in our patient. The case is being reported because of its unique nature as the patient was not immunocompromised and showed infestation with a parasite which normally does not affect human beings.

Respiratory tract infection due to Arcanobacterium haemolyticum--a case report.

A case of respiratory tract infection due to Arcanobacterium haemolyticum is reported. A female of 26 years presented with cough with expectoration and fever off and on for a duration of six weeks. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Arcanobacterium haemolyticum were isolated. Arcanobacterium haemolyticum was isolated on three separate occasions.

Re-emergence of El Tor vibrio in outbreak of cholera in & around Nagpur.

Contrary to earlier outbreaks of cholera due to Vibrio cholerae O139 during 1993 and its reemergence in 1998 in and around Nagpur and only sporadic episodes thereafter for next couple of years, a large outbreak was encountered between June and October 2003. V. cholerae 01 El Tor were isolated in 198 cases, of which 152 were Ogawa, 3 Inaba, 4 Hikojima and 39 were non agglutinating (NAG) vibrios. No isolate of V. cholerae O139 was detected during the entire outbreak. The isolates were multi drug resistant to antibiotic susceptibility tests. This points to the resurgence of V. cholerae El Tor Ogawa causing outbreaks of cholera with a discernible increase in the incidence of multi drug resistant strains.

Re-emergence of Vibrio cholerae O139 serogroup during 1998 in Nagpur (Maharashtra), India.

In Nagpur, Maharashtra in 1993, V. cholerae serogroup O139 emerged as a novel epidemic strain. The decline in the isolation rate of this serogroup in subsequent year was followed by its re-emergence during 1998 indicating that this serotype requires careful monitoring.

Rapid detection of enteric fever by coagglutination and countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis.

A total of 463 patients clinically suspected of enteric fever and 100 healthy individuals were investigated by coagglutination (COAG) and countercurrent immunoelectrophoresis (CIEP) for rapid diagnosis of enteric fever. The S. typhi was grown in blood culture in 32 (6.91%) and Widal test was positive in 126 (27.21%) cases. The serum COAG with local antiserum was positive in 165 (35.64%), serum COAG with standard antiserum in 163 (35.21%), Blood culture supernatant (BCS) COAG in 153 (33.05%), serum CIEP for antigen (Ag) in 118 (25.09%), BCS CIEP in 99 (21.39%) while serum CIEP for antibody (Ab) was positive in 34 (7.34%) cases. Only two healthy controls revealed positive COAG result with local antiserum. The sensitivity of all antigen detection tests was 100% except BCS CIEP (98.25%) in the first week of fever and declined rapidly to 75.79% for serum COAG tests, 69.47% for BCS COAG and dramatically to 37.89% for serum CIEP for Ag and 22.11% for BCS CIEP tests during the second week whereas the sensitivity of serum CIEP for Ab detection rose from 17.54% to 23.16% from first to second week of illness. In view of the resulting data, it is suggested that both COAG and CIEP may be employed for the rapid diagnosis of enteric fever in the routine clinical setup.

Study of suspected plague cases for isolation and identification of Yersinia pestis.

A total of 62 suspected patients of plague were investigated for evidence of Yersinia pestis, by blood culture, lymph node aspirate culture, sputum culture, animal inoculation and serology for f1 antibodies against f1 antigen of Yersinia pestis. None of the samples was positive by direct smear examination and culture for Yersinia pestis, as well as for serology. The non positivity of the cultures is discussed.