A rare presentation of Salmonella Paratyphi B associated enteric fever and liver abscess: A case report and brief review

A pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) is a rare complication of enteric fever and is a potentially life-threatening condition. Here, we report a case of PLA secondary to enteric fever caused by Salmonella Paratyphi B in a 60-year-old male with diabetes mellitus and chronic alcoholism, who presented with fever, jaundice and abdominal pain. An ultrasound of the abdomen revealed a large abscess involving the left lobe of the liver with air-fluid level. Pus aspirated from the liver abscess yielded growth of Salmonella Paratyphi B which was susceptible to most of the commonly tested antibiotics. A Widal test performed also showed significant titers for Salmonella Paratyphi B. Percutaneous aspiration along with appropriate intravenous antibiotics resulted in a favourable clinical outcome in this patient

A comparative study of rapid urease test and dilute carbol fuchsin staining technique for diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori infection

Background: Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) is a gram negative spiral bacilli associated with acid peptic disease (APD) and gastric carcinoma. A rapid urease test is the most common test performed for a quick clinical diagnosis with or without histopathological examination of antral biopsy specimens.Methods: In this study we evaluated the utility of a simple dilute carbol fuchsin stain (DCF) for identifying the spiral or curved forms of H.pylori in the direct smears of antral biopsy samples for diagnosis of H.pylori infection and compared the results with rapid urease test (RUT).Results: Sums of 100 cases were included in the study from which 61 (61%) were positive for urease production and shown typical spiral or curved bacilli by D.C.F stain.Conclusions: DCF stain was found to be an excellent stain for direct microscopic evaluation and compared well with RUT

Prevalence of HIV seropositivity among the patients attending tertiary care hospital at Puducherry, India

Background: HIV/AIDS has been globally increasing since its first identification and reached 36.9 million by the end of 2014. It is more prevalent in underdeveloped countries. India with about 2.1 million HIV/AIDS affected people is placed third on the table followed by South Africa and Nigeria. In the present study, we aim to report the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among the patients attending our hospital in and around Puducherry, India.Methods: A total of 18903 patients attending various departments of our hospital from November 2012 to October 2015 were included in this study. HIV screening was done by rapid card test and ELISA for the detection of antibodies against HIV.Results: Out of the total study population, 259 (1.37%) were positive for HIV/AIDS. An increasing prevalence was observed in each successive year of our study. Male (1.94%) population was predominantly affected by HIV/AIDS than the females (0.90%) and is more prevalent in the 41-50 year age group.  Conclusions: Continuous monitoring, testing and counseling for HIV/AIDS would help to keep the disease under control. Special awareness and education programs are to be conducted in areas in which an increasing prevalence of HIV/AIDS is reported

Burkholderia pseudomallei infection in a healthy adult from a rural area of South India

Melioidosis is an emerging disease producing protean manifestations, and is more common in alcoholics and diabetics. The disease can be a trivial localized lesion or a fatal septicemia. Early diagnosis and appropriate antimicrobial treatment greatly reduces the mortality rate. We report a case of localized form of the disease in an elderly male with no known predisposing medical disease who responded well to oral amoxycillin-clavulanic acid and cotrimoxazole treatment

Prevalence of mutations in genes associated with rifampicin and isoniazid resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates

Purpose: To analyze prevalence of mutations in genes associated with rifampicin and isoniazid resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates from patients with possible MDR TB of Puducherry, South India and to explore the association of specific mutations conferring rifampicin (RIF) resistance.Methods: We performed a commercial Genotype MDBDRplus V.2.0 assay for the rapid detection of rifampicin and isoniazid resistance directly on sputum specimens of patients with possible MDR TB.Results: Totally 558 multidrug resistant, 293 RIF mono resistant and 923 INH mono resistant tuberculosis were detected from the 12,786 patients with possible MDR TB samples. The 50.5% mutations were observed in the region of S531L in MDR TB patients and 55.6% in rifampicin monoresistant cases. In total isoniazid monoresistant, 68.0% mutations were detected in katG gene, which is more prevalent in comparison to inhA gene 32.0%. There were about 57.9% and 32.2% MDR TB cases diagnosed in the age group of >â15 to â¤â45 years and >â45 to â¤â60 years respectively.Conclusions: The rate of occurrences of mutations were found widely in the Rifampicin Resistant Determination Region (81bp) of rpoB gene and the hypervariable region 530â533 codons of rpoB gene is alarming in the specification. The higher frequency of mutation in codons of rpoB (S531L) and katG (S315T) gene help to design simple, new and less expensive molecular techniques to use in peripheral laboratories. Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Multidrug resistant, Rifampicin monoresistant, Hypervariable region, Isoniazid monoresistan