Seroprevalence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus type-2 infection among pregnant women in Northeast India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections that facilitate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition by over two fold or more. The development of HSV-2 control methods as a measure to control HIV epidemic in high HSV-2/HIV areas has become a priority. Two out of the six high HIV prevalent states of India are located in the Northeastern region of India. Due to lack of documented HSV-2 studies from this part of the country; there was a need for estimating the seroprevalence and risk factors of HSV-2 infection in this defined population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pregnant women (n = 1640) aged18 years and above attending antenatal clinics of tertiary referral hospitals in five Northeastern states of India were screened for type specific HSV-2 IgG antibodies. Blood samples were collected from all the participants after conducting interviews. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositivity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection was 8.7% (142/1640; 95% CI 7.3-10.0) with a highest prevalence of 15.0% (46/307; 95% CI 11.0-19.0) in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Higher seroprevalence was observed with increasing age (Adj. Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.9 for 22-25 years old, AOR 2.29 for > 29 years old). The risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositives were multiple sex partners (AOR 2.5, <it>p </it>= 0.04), condom non-user's (AOR 4.7, p <it><</it>0.001), early coitarchal age (age of first intercourse) 'less than 18 years' (AOR 9.6, <it>p = </it>0.04), middle income group (AOR 2.1, <it>p = </it>0.001) compared to low income group and low level of education (AOR 3.7, <it>p = </it>0.02) compared to higher education. HSV-2 seropositivity was higher among Christians (12.6%) compared to Muslims (3.8%). The most frequent clinical symptoms among HSV-2 seropositives were excess vaginal discharge in last one year (53.5%, 76/142) and pelvic pain (26.1%, 37/142). While among subjects with genital ulcers, HSV-2 seroprevalence was 36.8% (7/19).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection among pregnant women of Northeast India is relatively low. The generation of awareness among high risk groups may have played key role to limit the infection. The role of vaccination against HSV-2 in near future and elimination of HSV-2 viral shedding along with genital tract inflammation in high HIV/HSV-2 areas may be an option for initiating successful intervention strategies to reduce the transmission and acquisition of HIV infection in Northeast India.</p

Becker's birthmark: A case series of pigmented hairy epidermal naevus

Becker's naevus also known as Becker's melanosis (BM) or pigmented hairy epidermal naevus is a cutaneous hamartoma with brown hyperpigmentation and hypertrichosis. It commonly occurs during adolescence and rarely at birth. It usually affects young post-pubertal males and has a prevalence of 0.5%. A naevus usually consists of a circumscribed, unilateral, irregularly shaped, hyperpigmented spot usually located around the anterior upper body, with or without hypertrichosis and/or acneiform lesions. Sometimes developmental abnormalities can occur with Becker's naevus, which is called Becker's naevus syndrome (BNS). Becker's naevus was of atypical presentation in two patients over the forearm and leg. Hence, these case reports gain importance

Reconstructing sibling relationships in wild populations

Reconstruction of sibling relationships from genetic data is an important component of many biological applications. In particular, the growing application of molecular markers (microsatellites) to study wild populations of plant and animals has created the need for new computational methods of establishing pedigree relationships, such as sibgroups, among individuals in these populations. Most current methods for sibship reconstruction from microsatellite data use statistical and heuristic techniques that rely on a priori knowledge about various parameter distributions. Moreover, these methods are designed for data with large number of sampled loci and small family groups, both of which typically do not hold for wild populations. We present a deterministic technique that parsimoniously reconstructs sibling groups using only Mendelian laws of inheritance. We validate our approach using both simulated and real biological data and compare it to other methods. Our method is highly accurate on real data and compares favorably with other methods on simulated data with few loci and large family groups. It is the only method that does not rely on a priori knowledge about the population under study. Thus, our method is particularly appropriate for reconstructing sibling groups in wild populations

Rapid Environmental Contamination With Candida auris and Multidrug-Resistant Bacterial Pathogens Near Colonized Patients

BackgroundEnvironmental contamination is suspected to play an important role in Candida auris transmission. Understanding speed and risks of contamination after room disinfection could inform environmental cleaning recommendations.MethodsWe conducted a prospective multicenter study of environmental contamination associated with C. auris colonization at six ventilator-capable skilled nursing facilities and one acute-care hospital in Illinois and California. Known C. auris carriers were sampled at five body-sites followed by sampling of nearby room surfaces before disinfection and at 0, 4, 8, and 12-hours post-disinfection. Samples were cultured for C. auris and bacterial multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). Odds of surface contamination after disinfection were analyzed using multilevel generalized estimating equations.ResultsAmong 41 known C. auris carriers, colonization was detected most frequently on palms/fingertips (76%) and nares (71%). C. auris contamination was detected on 32.2% (66/205) of room surfaces pre-disinfection and 20.5% (39/190) of room surfaces by 4-hours post-disinfection. A higher number of C. auris-colonized body sites was associated with higher odds of environmental contamination at every time point following disinfection, adjusting for facility of residence. In the rooms of 38 (93%) C. auris carriers co-colonized with a bacterial MDRO, 2%-24% of surfaces were additionally contaminated with the same MDRO by 4-hours post-disinfection.ConclusionsC. auris can contaminate the healthcare environment rapidly after disinfection, highlighting the challenges associated with environmental disinfection. Future research should investigate long-acting disinfectants, antimicrobial surfaces, and more effective patient skin antisepsis to reduce the environmental reservoir of C. auris and bacterial MDROs in healthcare settings