Strategies to provide care to Non-COVID Patients in the COVID Era: An Experience from a Tertiary Care Institute in Northern India

With the COVID-19 pandemic the health system is facing dual burden of cases, one being the COVID-19 or Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases and the second being the other Non-COVID cases. The Non-COVID cases due to the burden of the SARI cases became almost neglected by the Health System increasing the sufferings of the Non-COVID cases. In the current COVID times All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Gorakhpur continued to provide the health care to the Non-COVID cases. The current manuscript provides the detailed strategy and results of the various strategies used to provide care to such Non-COVID patients with minimum risk to the healthcare staff

Subacute invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a nondiabetic immunocompetent female suffering from allergic broncho pulmonary aspergillosis

A 55-year-old female presented with recent exacerbation of the chronic cough, dyspnea, and copious expectoration. The symptoms worsened during the winter months. In the past, she was misdiagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. A computed tomography scan revealed bronchiectasis changes, high attenuated mucus, and hypereosinophilia. The diagnosis of Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis (ABPA) with subacute invasion was confirmed through bronchoscopy and fungal culture. Treatment with oral voriconazole significantly improved lung function and quality of life. This case highlights the importance of considering invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in patients with exacerbations of asthma and bronchiectasis. Early diagnosis and appropriate treatment are essential for improved outcomes in such cases

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia mimicking Klebsiella on Chromogenic Media

Chromogenic media are being used now-a-days for identification of many microorganisms in the clinical microbiology laboratories. They are being used for screening purposes especially in case of urine cultures, environmental surveillance and also for detection of multidrug-resistant organisms like Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) and Carbapenem-resistant Enterobactericeae (CRE) etc. Organisms produce specific colour due to digestion of chromogenic substrates present in the medium. Thus the Organisms are identified on basis of colour production. These media are specific in detecting common pathogens which are isolated. But they can give different results when uncommon organisms are encountered. In this case report the uncommon organism that is Stenotrophomonas maltophilia produced colour similar to Klebsiella spp. on chromogenic media

Invasive Non-typhoidal Salmonella Sepsis in Top-up Fed Five-Month-Old Infant: Case Report

Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) are generally associated with self-limiting gastrointestinal disease, often acquired through the ingestion of contaminated food and it seldom requires antimicrobial therapy for treatment. Extra-intestinal manifestations could be localised infection leading to septic arthritis, osteomyelitis. In complicated invasive disease, there could be bronchopneumonia with or without bacteraemia leading to mortality. Invasive NTS infections are infrequently reported in India. The S. Typhimurium is one of the common serovars associated with invasive disease and its virulence factors are responsible for causing the disease. S. enteridies, S. Dublin are the other serovars which are commonly responsible for invasive NTS infection. It is difficult to diagnose invasive disease without appropriate bacteriological culture based method. With emergence to resistance to antimicrobials the treatment of this condition is also becoming challenging. In this case report, a five-month-old infant presented with cough fever, stuffed nose dyspnoea and was diagnosed as bronchopneumonia. Mechanical ventilation was required for five days along with admission to intensive care unit. Invasive NTS infection was diagnosed using automated blood culture and the child responded to intravenous antimicrobial chemotherapy

Nursing students: A vulnerable health-care worker for needlesticks injuries in teaching hospitals

Background: Occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogen is a significant risk to health-care workers. In any teaching hospital apart from regular health-care workers and employees, there are significant population of students and trainee. It is important to assess the health-care worker in hospital which has maximum chances of exposure to these pathogens. The aim of this study is to determine the most susceptible job group for needlestick injury (NSI) reported in a newly established teaching medical institute in the Western part of Rajasthan, India. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of data of NSI occurred during September 2014 to January 2017. Results: Sixty three NSIs were reported during the study. Nursing students were the most vulnerable group who reported maximum number of NSI. Among the nursing students, 72% were completely vaccinated against hepatitis B virus. Conclusions: Nursing students are at utmost risk for NSIs, the prevention of which requires regular training and education

Vaccine Derived Poliovirus (VDPV)

Poliomyelitis is caused by Poliovirus, a member of a large group of enteroviruses. Vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) stem from mutated live poliovirus, which is contained in the Oral Polio Virus vaccine (OPV). In addition, the emergence of VDPV is one of the global challenges for the eradication of poliomyelitis. VDPVs continue to affect different parts of the world; 1081 cases occurred in 2020 and 682 cases in 2021. There are several reasons that may have caused the increase in circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) after the “switch” from the trivalent to the bivalent oral polio vaccine. One reason is the low vaccination rate among the targeted population, which has been further aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several strategies could control the spread of VDPV including the use of the monovalent OPV (mOPV-2). The risk of VDPV can be minimized through increased immunization rates and the use of safer vaccine alternatives. The global effort to eradicate polio has made significant progress over the years, but continued vigilance and investment in immunization programs are needed to achieve the ultimate goal of a polio-free world

Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody kinetics up to 6 months of follow-up: Result from a nation-wide population-based, age stratified sero-epidemiological prospective cohort study in India.

Repeated serological testing tells about the change in the overall infection in a community. This study aimed to evaluate changes in antibody prevalence and kinetics in a closed cohort over six months in different sub-populations in India. The study included 10,000 participants from rural and urban areas in five states and measured SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in serum in three follow-up rounds. The overall seroprevalence increased from 73.9% in round one to 90.7% in round two and 92.9% in round three. Among seropositive rural participants in round one, 98.2% remained positive in round two, and this percentage remained stable in urban and tribal areas in round three. The results showed high antibody prevalence that increased over time and was not different based on area, age group, or sex. Vaccinated individuals had higher antibody prevalence, and nearly all participants had antibody positivity for up to six months

S1 to S6 Tables on the supporting information of study result.

S1 to S6 Tables on the supporting information of study result.</p