ABSTRACT: Opportunistic infections of the gastrointestinal tract have played a critical role in determining symptomatic illness in immunocompromised individuals. Protozoan parasites that cause mild or self-limited disease in immunocompetent individuals can cause protracted and severe diarrhoea in immunocompromised patients. Among the protozoans that cause intestinal infections in the immunocompromised, cryptosporidium species, Isospora and microsporidia are the most common organism encountered. In addition, infections due to Entamoeba histolytica, Cyclospora cayatenensis and Giardia are also seen. Treatment of these infections is available for Isospora, some microsporidia, E. histolytica, Cyclospora and Giardia, In addition, it has been shown recently that antiretroviral therapy can resolve diarrhoea due to Cryptosporidium and microsporidia.

ABSTRACT: Changing patter of antibiotic resistance among common respiratory pathogens is being noticed worldwide. Unresponsiveness to penicillin and resistance to erythromycin have been reported among cases with Group A Streptococcal pharyngitis. Streptococcus Pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae remain the two most common cause of bacterial pneumonia in children, beyond the newborn period. Staphylococcus aureus also contributes to the etiology in a small percentage of cases. All these organisms have acquired resistance to the commonly used antibiotics to varying degrees in the developed as well as developing countries. To provide optimal management for the child with respiratory tract infection, a knowledge of prevalence and mechanisms of resistance to standard antibiotics is necessary.

ABSTRACT: We have reported recently on the wide spectrum of antibacterial activity of triprolidine, commonly marketed by the trade name actidil (R). Triprolidine, a broad spectrum antibacterial agent produces mutants under experimental selection procedures and these mutants develop cross-resistance to several other antibiotics. In this study of curing anti-plasmid effect on multiply antibiotic and triprolidine resistant bacterial, it was observed that elimination of R Plasmids was facilitated by the choice of optimal concentration of triprolidine. Significant elimination of single and combined antibiotic resistance occurred in S. aureus, E.coli and V.cholerae.

ABSTRACT: The present study was undertaken to estimate the incidence and further the influence of fungal infections in critically ill surgical patients. Invasive fungal disease was found in 18 percent of the patients. C. albicans was the agent most frequently isolated. Acute physiological scoring (APS) was found to be a significant factor predicting invasive fungal disease. Age, leucocytosis and duration of hospital stay were not found to have any association with development of invasive disease. Mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with invasive disease.

ABSTRACT: A study was undertaken to find out the variations in the annual seroconversion rate in sentinel chicks. The seroconversion rate in sentinel chicks was 3.85 percent (6/156) in first year and 12.26 (26.212) in second year, with two peaks in each year, between April-May (short seroconversion period) and September -December (long seroconversion period). During the long seroconversion period, 4 and 27 overt human cases of JE were recorded in the first and second year respectively. There were no reported human cases in the short lasting seroconversion period. Vector density was maximum in the month of March (12.5 per man hour pmd) and minimum in May (2 pmd). The study depicted that proportion prevalence of seroconversion in reservoir host (sentinel chicks) may vary from year to year, having direct correlation with incidence of JE cases and vector density in an hyper endemic zone of West Bengal.

ABSTRACT: We analyzed the microbiological quality of bottled water manufactured and marketed in Hyderabad. Ten brands were analyzed for presumptive coliform count by multiple tube test and confirmed E.coli count by Eijkman test. Bacterial, fungal and free-living parasite load were tested by membrane filtration test. One out of ten samples (10 percent) showed the presumptive coliform count to be 24 most probable number (MPN)/100ml, but was found to be negative when tested by Eijkman test for E.coli. In the membrane filtration test, 5 types of bacteria were grown from 10 samples with 3 samples showing more than 2 types of bacteria (30 percent). The variety of bacteria grown included Bacillus spp. from 5 Pseudomonas spp. from 4, Acinetobacter spp. from 2, Enterobacter spp. from 1, and Xanthomonas maltophilia from 1 sample. The mean colony count was 1.01 CFU/ml (0.02-3.7 CFU/ml). Fungi were isolated from 6/10 (60 percent) samples [Aspergillus spp-5, Candida spp-1; mean colony count 0.06 CFU/ml (0.05-11 CFU/ml)]. The lone sample with positive presumptive coliform count grew Enterobacter spp. with highest colony count (3.7 CFU/ml) along with Apergillus fumigatus (0.05 CFU/ml.) None of the samples showed the presence of free-living amoeba. The number and type of organisms recovered from the bottled water samples tested in this study were within the permissible levels prescribed for safe drinking water.

ABSTRACT: 25 sputum samples from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis positive for acid fast bacilli on smear were inoculated on Modified Thayer Martin Medium (MTM) with antibiotic supplement of vancomycin (7.5 miu g/ml), colistin (4 miu g/ml). nystatin (12,500 miu g/ml) and 5 percent lysed human blood. No concentration procedure was performed prior to inoculation. Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium was also inoculated after concentration of the specimens by Petroff's method. The growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was seen in 10-12 days on MTM as compared to the growth on LJ medium which was seen at 3 weeks. A control strain of H37Rv of M.tuberculosis inoculated on both media showed similar results. The preliminary finding that M.tuberculosis grows on Modified Thayer Martin medium is being reported.

ABSTRACT: The IgG antibody response against poliovirus type 1(P1), type 2(P2) and type 3 (P3) was studied using indirect ELISA method in 144 children below 5 years of age. The relationship between the antibody titre with the total number of doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) administered in routine and/or pulse polio immunization, showed that increased number or doses led to higher antibody response. The percentage seropositivity against P1,P2 and P3 was found to be 55.2 percent, 37.9 percent and 86.2 percent after 3 doses; 61.1 percent, 47.2 percent and 94.4 percent after 5 doses; and 100 percent, 85.7 percent and 100 percent after 7 doses respectively. The observations are in agreement with the present IAP recommendation to give at least 7 doses of OPV as control measure.

ABSTRACT: Salmonella as an agent of liver abscess is rare. A multi-drug resistant Salmonella typhi (MDR-S. typhi) was isolated from a case of liver abscess. Surgical treatment was preferred because of the existing complication of gallstones. Patient made an uneventful recovery.