Evaluation of topical 1% posaconazole therapy in refractory fungal keratitis.

Purpose: The primary objective was to evaluate the clinical response of refractory cases of fungal keratitis to topical 1% posaconazole therapy.

Methods: Prospective longitudinal non-randomized open label dual-cohort study of 70 eyes of refractory fungal keratitis, 35 were recruited as posaconazole treatment (PCZ) group for topical 1% posaconazole therapy and compared to 35 eyes on conventional antifungal therapy. Study parameters included demographic and treatment details, visual acuity, comprehensive slit-lamp biomicroscopy, clinical photography, ASOCT at recruitment and weekly (week 1, 2, 3 and 4 after treatment initiation).

keratitis: Experience from a tertiary eye care center in North India.

The free-living amebae of genus are an important cause of microbial keratitis. The clinical appearance of keratitis (AK) usually mimics viral or fungal keratitis. Thus, microbiological workup plays a significant role in the diagnosis and timely treatment of such cases.

Evaluation of antifungal susceptibility and clinical characteristics in fungal keratitis in a tertiary care center in North India.

Purpose: To study the antifungal susceptibility of common corneal pathogenic fungi to antifungal agents in the North Indian population.

Methods: Prospective study of the antifungal sensitivity testing (natamycin, amphotericin B, voriconazole, itraconazole, fluconazole, posaconazole, caspofungin, micafungin) of fungal isolates from 50 cases of culture positive fungal keratitis by using E test method. Details noted included demographic data, visual acuity, clinical details, grade of keratitis, healing time, and success in medical management.

A Comprehensive Assessment of Self-Reported Post COVID-19 Symptoms Among Beneficiaries of Hospital Employee Scheme at a Tertiary Healthcare Institution in Northern India.

Purpose: With millions of people being affected by COVID-19, people living with post COVID-19 clinical symptoms (PCS) are expected to rise further. The primary aim of the study was to comprehensively assess self-reported PCS and its associated risk factors among beneficiaries of Hospital Employee Scheme of a tertiary healthcare institution in Delhi.

Patients And Methods: An online cross-sectional study was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire developed by employing nominal group technique among individuals aged 18 years and above who were novel SARS-CoV-2 positive from January to April 2021.

Recent Perspectives in the Management of Fungal Keratitis.

Mycotic keratitis is common in warm, humid regions with a varying profile of pathogenic fungi according to geographical origin, socioeconomic status, and climatic condition. Clinical diagnosis can be challenging in difficult cases and those refractory to treatment. Fungal hyphae on microscopic examination and culture isolation have been the gold standard in the laboratory diagnosis of fungal keratitis.

Species identification, antifungal susceptibility profiles and biofilm formation attributes of Rhodotorula isolates from ocular infections.

Background: Members of genus Rhodotorula are widely distributed in nature and have been traditionally considered non-pathogenic. Last few decades have seen the yeast as an emerging pathogen. We observed increase in numbers of Rhodotorula isolates from ocular infections in last few years, thus this prospective study was planned.

Evaluation of 16S rRNA broad range PCR assay for microbial detection in serum specimens in sepsis patients.

Background: Early and accurate laboratory diagnosis and appropriate management of infection improves the survival rate in sepsis. In this study we evaluated broad range 16S rRNA and 16 S-23 S intergenic spacer region (ISR) PCR assays followed by nucleotide sequencing directly from patients' serum and automated blood culture for laboratory diagnosis in admitted sepsis patients.

Methods: A broad range 16S rRNA PCR and 16 S-23 S ISR PCR assay followed by nucleotide sequencing was used directly from patients' serum in hospital admitted patients in 62 sepsis and 16 suspected blood stream infection (sBSI) patients.

Utility of broad-range 16S rRNA PCR assay versus conventional methods for laboratory diagnosis of bacterial endophthalmitis in a tertiary care hospital.

Background: Endophthalmitis, a sight-threatening intraocular infection, can be of postsurgical, post-traumatic or endogenous origin. Laboratory diagnosis-based appropriate therapy can be vision-saving. Conventional culture-based laboratory diagnosis takes time and lacks sensitivity.

Antigen Positivity in Patients with Different Ocular Manifestations over 8 Years.

Laboratory confirmation of chlamydial antigen in clinically suspected cases of chlamydial eye infections is important, as similar clinical picture can be presented by different infective or noninfective causes. We retrospectively analyzed the presence of antigen in 690 clinically suspected patients over the last 8 years (2009-2016). The chlamydial antigen was detected using direct immunofluorescence assay.

subsp. , an emerging multidrug-resistant bacterium, as a causative agent of septicaemia in cancer patients.

Staphylococcus hominis subsp. novobiosepticus is a new sub-species of S. hominis, thus dividing S.

Chlamydial eye infections: Current perspectives.

Chlamydia trachomatis, an obligate intraocular bacteria causing trachoma, adult and neonatal inclusion conjunctivitis, was the leading cause of blindness in the last century worldwide. Improvement in socioeconomic and living conditions, availability of antibiotics, and introduction of National Trachoma Control Programmes reduced the prevalence in developed countries, but it persisted in resource-poor settings of Africa and Asia, including India. In 2016, as per the WHO report, trachoma is restricted to 42 countries, causing blindness/visual impairment in ~1.

Antibiotic Resistance Pattern of Uropathogens: An Experience from North Indian Cancer Patient.

Empirical treatment of urinary tract infections (UTIs) can be made evidence based if it is governed by the resistance pattern of common uropathogens. A retrospective study was carried out at a tertiary care cancer institute to identify the common uropathogens and to know their resistance profile. 20.

Pattern of co-infection by enteric pathogenic parasites among HIV sero-positive individuals in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Mumbai, India.

Introduction: One of the major medical concerns in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) is management of diarrhea that can lead to severe morbidity and mortality. Such clinical scenario warrants an analysis of intestinal parasites, which are important opportunistic pathogens in PLHA. Owing to the scarcity of recent pattern of intestinal opportunistic infections from this region, the study was designed to determine the opportunistic parasites causing diarrhea in PLHA; and to find out whether there is any significant difference in the enteric parasitic pathogens in patients with different immunological status and in those on highly active anti retro-viral therapy (HAART).

Antimicrobial resistance of bacterial isolates from respiratory secretions of ventilated patients in a multi-specialty hospital.

Context: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a common nosocomial infection occurring in intensive care unit (ICU) settings. VAP occurs due to interplay of three factors - impaired host defense, access of large numbers of pathogenic bacteria to the lower respiratory tract and the virulence of the organism. Knowledge of colonizing microbial flora and their antibiogram in ventilated patients is of great importance in timely institution of empirical therapy, so that mortality and morbidity due to VAP can be reduced.

Dengue Fever outbreak in delhi, north India: a clinico-epidemiological study.

Background: Dengue viruses, single-stranded positive polarity ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses of the family Flaviviridae, are the most common cause of arboviral disease in the world. We report a clinico-epidemiological study of the dengue fever outbreak of 2010 from a tertiary care hospital in Delhi, North India.

Objectives: Objectives of the study were to know the incidence of laboratory-confirmed dengue cases among the clinically suspected patients; to study the clinical profile of dengue-positive cases; and to co-relate the above with the prevalent serotype and environmental conditions.

Surgical Site Infection Caused by Aeromonas hydrophila in a Patient with Underlying Malignancy.

Aeromonas skin and soft tissue infections in cancer patients can lead to serious life threatening conditions such as cellulitis, necrotizing fasciitis and myonecrosis. We report here a case of surgical site infection, post radical mastectomy, in a 58-year-old female with carcinoma breast. Cultures of exudates from the wound grew Aeromonas hydrophila on repeated occasions.

Comparison of NS1 antigen detection ELISA, real time RT-PCR and virus isolation for rapid diagnosis of dengue infection in acute phase.

Background & Objectives: Diagnosis of dengue infection in acute phase is important for clinical care, implementing control measures, surveillance and research. Currently, dengue fever is diagnosed by means of virus isolation, reverse transcriptase PCR or IgM and IgG based ELISA. Given the limitations of all the existing diagnostic methods, there is a need for rapid, sensitive and high throughput methods for detection of dengue virus in early stages of the disease.

Cultivation of parasites.

Parasite cultivation techniques constitute a substantial segment of present-day study of parasites, especially of protozoa. Success in establishing in vitro and in vivo culture of parasites not only allows their physiology, behavior and metabolism to be studied dynamically, but also allows the nature of the antigenic molecules in the excretory and secretory products to be vigorously pursued and analyzed. The complex life-cycles of various parasites having different stages and host species requirements, particularly in the case of parasitic helminths, often make parasite cultivation an uphill assignment.

Non-pigmented strain of serratia marcescens: an unusual pathogen causing pulmonary infection in a patient with malignancy.

Serratia marcescens is a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae. It has emerged in recent years as an opportunistic pathogen of nosocomial infections. Some biotypes of Serratia marcescens produce the non-diffusible red pigment prodigiosin.

Quantitative buffy coat analysis-an effective tool for diagnosing blood parasites.

Quantitative buffy coat (QBC) analysis, which is based on principle of centrifugal stratification of blood components, is a well-known and a very sensitive technique which can be used for the detection of malarial parasites in peripheral blood. In our experience, this technique is also highly specific for doing speciation of malarial parasite in Indian set up. In addition, this technique was also found to be a sensitive and specific tool for diagnosing filariasis.

Multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus hominis subsp. novobiosepticus causing septicemia in patients with malignancy.

A new subspecies of Staphylococcus hominis described by Kloos et al. in 1998 and named S. hominis subsp.