Use of face mask in COVID-19 pandemic-a review

The current novel corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease of the respiratory tract and rapidly spreading all over the world in short span of time. In current COVID-19 pandemic, use of the face mask is becoming usual and ubiquitous for both health care workers and public individuals. Wearing face mask is one of the non-pharmaceutical interventions which need minimum cost and provide dramatic response for preventing the COVID-19 infection. Limited availability of the vaccine and inadequate supply of therapeutic options, face mask use is an important part for public health measures for restricting the COVID-19 spread. Regardless of the debate among medical community regarding global face mask production shortage, a greater number of countries in the world are moving ahead with recommendations or mandates for using face mask in public. As currently global shortage of N95/FFP2 respirators and surgical masks for use by health care workers in the hospitals, simple cloth masks will act as a pragmatic solution for the use of the public. General public often use the surgical mask or even filtering facepiece (FFP) masks irrespective of their need, resulting unnecessary shortage for needy individuals those are exposed to the patients or those are health care workers. So, this review article will clarify the indication of the different types of masks and their rational use in the current COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 Associated Mucormycosis in Head and Neck Region: Our Experiences at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Eastern India

Objective: To study the COVID-19 associated mucormycosis in the head and neck region of the patients along with patient details, clinical manifestations and management. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive and retrospective study of COVID-19 associated mucormycosis (CAM) carried out at a postgraduate teaching hospital. This study was conducted between March 2020 to April 2021. A patient profile such as age, sex, comorbidities, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment of the CAM were analyzed. Results: There were 11 patients of CAM were enrolled in this study. There were eight male and three female patients, aged from 3 years to 72 years. Out of the 11 patients, 8 were diabetic (72.72%). Three patients (27.27%) were taking prolonged systemic steroids with a long hospital ICU stay. One child (9.09%) was under chemotherapy for acute leukemia. The common clinical symptoms were facial swelling, facial pain, nasal block and nasal discharge.  The diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination and fungal culture with Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) showing Rhizopus oryzae. All were treated with endoscopic surgical debridement and amphotericin B. One case died because of cerebral involvement. Conclusion: Early diagnosis and prompt treatment for CAM are required. Aggressive endoscopic surgical debridement for local control and appropriate systemic antifungal treatment will help to improve the prognosis and survival of the patients

Role of Social Distancing, Hand Hygiene and Wearing Mask in Controlling COVID-19 Pandemic: A review

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) continues to spread all over world and is outpacing the resources and capacity of health care systems. This rapidly spreading COVID-19 infection is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and has been challenging the medical community and keeping the whole world in great threat to an unprecedented degree. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this review article is to describe details of social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing face masks including there role in controlling the current COVID-19 pandemic. METHOD: We conducted an electronic search of Google Scholar, Scopus, Medline and PubMed databases for articles between June to September 2021. RESULTS: The novel SARS-CoV-2 virus is transmitted from person to person by respiratory droplets or contact with an infected person. There are no established medications and vaccine available until now to restrain the transmission of the COVID-19 infection. Currently, social distancing, hand hygiene and wearing a mask are key steps to lower the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in COVID-19 pandemic. As this infection is highly contagious via a respiratory pathway through coughing, sneezing and contact with an infected surface, the spread can be reduced by the proper practice of social distancing, hand hygiene or frequent hand washing and wearing mask. These universal precautions should be done as COVID-19 patients may be asymptomatic. CONCLUSION: Social distancing, hand washing and wearing face masks are cheap and widely acceptable methods for the prevention of the COVID-19 infection. The goal of this review paper is to discuss social distancing, hand hygiene and face mask information, including its role in managing the current COVID-19 pandemi

Predictive Role of Proteinuria in Urinary Tract Infection

Introduction: Urine culture is considered as holy grail in diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). However, the significance of preliminary urinalysis cannot be neglected. Aim: To evaluate proteinuria as a predictor of UTI. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at the Department of Microbiology, Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, New Delhi, India, over a period of three months (April 2015 to June 2015). Urine specimens from clinically suspected cases of UTI were analysed microscopically for pyuria and by reagent strip test for albuminuria. The results were correlated with urine culture findings. Antimicrobial resistance for various antimicrobials was compared among proteinuria positive and negative cases. Statistical analysis was done by Fisherfs-exact test and p-value was calculated. A p-value .0.05 was considered significant. Results: A total of 369 urine samples received for both routine microscopy and culture, out of which 73 were proteinuria positive. Out of these 73 samples, 32 were culture positive while 41 were culture negative. Among culture positive, 62.5% patients were symptomatic (20/32) while 37.5% were asymptomatic (12/32). Their age ranged from five months to 83 years. Male to female ratio was 1:1.5. Association between culture positivity and proteinuria was statistically significant (p<0.001) with 43.8% positive predictive value. Pyuria was observed in 42.5% cases. Out of 296 proteinuria negative samples, 36 were culture positive. ƒÀ-lactam antibiotic resistance among proteinuria positive cases and chloramphenicol resistance among proteinuria negative cases was significantly high. Conclusion: Proteinuria as a urinalysis parameter may have good predictive power combined with the clinical presentation to diagnose UTI