Publications by authors named "Avi Bansal"

Article Synopsis
  • Residual blood specimens offer a cost-effective way to track seroprevalence changes compared to traditional household surveys, as shown in a study in India focused on measles-rubella vaccinations.
  • A cross-sectional survey in Kanpur Nagar and Palghar found significant increases in rubella seroprevalence post-immunization, though measles trends were inconsistent between facility and community samples.
  • Younger children in public facilities initially had lower rubella seroprevalence than those in private hospitals, but this gap disappeared after the vaccination campaign, highlighting the importance of residual specimens for public health monitoring.
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Background: In alignment with the Measles and Rubella (MR) Strategic Elimination plan, India conducted a mass measles and rubella vaccination campaign across the country between 2017 and 2020 to provide a dose of MR containing vaccine to all children aged 9 months to 15 years. We estimated campaign vaccination coverage in five districts in India and assessed campaign awareness and factors associated with vaccination during the campaign to better understand reasons for not receiving the dose.

Methods And Findings: Community-based cross-sectional serosurveys were conducted in five districts of India among children aged 9 months to 15 years after the vaccination campaign.

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Recurrent Tuberculosis patients contribute to a significant proportion of TB burden in India. A nationwide survey was conducted during 2019-2021 across India among adults to estimate the prevalence of TB. A total of 322480 individuals were screened and 1402 were having TB.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The analysis aimed to determine the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) infection in India, revealing that approximately 22.6% of the population over 15 years old is infected with TB.
  • - Data from the National TB prevalence survey indicated that factors such as being over 30 years old, male gender, urban residency, and having a previous TB history are significantly associated with higher TB infection rates.
  • - The study highlights the need for targeted interventions and monitoring to effectively address and reduce the high burden of TB in India.
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Background: India did phased measles-rubella supplementary immunisation activities (MR-SIAs; ie, mass-immunisation campaigns) targeting children aged 9 months to less than 15 years. We estimated measles-rubella seroprevalence before and after the MR-SIAs to quantify the effect on population immunity and identify remaining immunity gaps.

Methods: Between March 9, 2018 and March 19, 2020 we did community-based, cross-sectional serosurveys in four districts in India before and after MR-SIAs.

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Introduction: Visually enhanced lesion scope (Velscope) that identifies reduction in tissue fluorescence in dysplasia can prove to be effective in screening for potentially malignant lesions. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of device that utilizes the principles of tissue autofluorescence (Velscope) in the detection of dysplastic and/or neoplastic changes in oral mucosal lesions using biopsy and histopathology as "gold standard."

Materials And Methods: Out of nine hundred fifty patients with suspicious oral mucosal lesions, 250 patients were subjected to conventional oral examination followed by Velscope examination.

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Background: India began COVID-19 vaccination in January 2021, initially targeting healthcare and frontline workers. The vaccination strategy was expanded in a phased manner and currently covers all individuals aged 18 years and above. India experienced a severe second wave of COVID-19 during March-June 2021.

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In India, the tribal population constitutes almost 8.6% of the nation's total population. Despite their large presence, there are only a few reports available on Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.

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Fingerprick blood spotted onto filter paper offers an alternative to venous blood for use in population-based surveillance because it is comparatively inexpensive, acceptable, and easy to manage in the field. Prior studies have shown excellent agreement for immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody detection from dried blood spots (DBS) and venous blood samples. However, much of this evidence is from high-income settings or laboratories where the samples were unlikely to be exposed to extreme temperatures and humidity, factors known to degrade DBS.

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Background: A novel subjective Motivational Value toward Child Gender (MVCG) tool was developed using the theoretical construct of 10 motivational domains described by Shalom H Schwartz.

Objective: The study aimed to summarize the pattern of correlations of (MVCG) in women of reproductive age in Himachal Pradesh, India.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2018 to November 2019 among a sample of 355 women.

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Importance: There is no concrete evidence on the burden of TB among the tribal populations across India except for few studies mainly conducted in Central India with a pooled estimation of 703/100,000 with a high degree of heterogeneity.

Objective: To estimate the prevalence of TB among the tribal populations in India.

Design, Participants, Setting: A survey using a multistage cluster sampling design was conducted between April 2015 and March 2020 covering 88 villages (clusters) from districts with over 70% tribal majority populations in 17 States across 6 zones of India.

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Background: Earlier serosurveys in India revealed seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) of 0.73% in May-June 2020 and 7.1% in August-September 2020.

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Background: The first national severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) serosurvey in India, done in May-June, 2020, among adults aged 18 years or older from 21 states, found a SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibody seroprevalence of 0·73% (95% CI 0·34-1·13). We aimed to assess the more recent nationwide seroprevalence in the general population in India.

Methods: We did a second household serosurvey among individuals aged 10 years or older in the same 700 villages or wards within 70 districts in India that were included in the first serosurvey.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A total of 192 HIV/AIDS patients were studied, with 57 showing high viral loads (≥1,000 copies/mL) undergoing genotyping for resistance mutations, resulting in some being transitioned to second-line ART.
  • * The study found prominent drug resistance mutations (M184V and K103N) in first-line ART failure patients, with a mortality rate during follow-up that did not correlate directly with specific mutations, emphasizing the need for better viral load monitoring and therapy options.
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Article Synopsis
  • * A total of 28,000 individuals were tested for IgG antibodies, revealing a population-weighted seroprevalence of 0.73%, equating to approximately 6.47 million adult infections by early May.
  • * Factors such as being male, residing in urban slums, and having high-risk occupations were linked to higher seropositivity, with an infection case ratio ranging from 81.6 to 130.1 and
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Objectives: The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of the 'TBDetect' kit-based bio-safe fluorescent microscopy filter (BioFM-Filter) microscopy in comparison with direct smear microscopy and culture for the detection of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in a multi-centric setting in India.

Methods: The TBDetect kit enables sputum concentration through filtration using the BioFM-Filter for improved and bio-safe smear microscopy. We evaluated the performance of the TBDetect kit in a six-site multi-centric validation study on sputum collected from 2086 presumptive TB patients.

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Leprosy is considered as a contagious disease and is still a health problem in several countries including India. Diagnosis of leprosy is based either on clinical findings or on acid fast bacilli staining. Due to low sensitivity of acid fast bacilli staining most of the leprosy cases were remained undetected.

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Background: Leprosy is a contagious disease and was eliminated globally in 2002. Since then, new cases were continuously detected from different parts of the world. Untreated leprosy cases shed millions of bacteria and are the main cause of dissemination of the disease.

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Background: Leprosy is a slow, chronic disorder caused by Mycobacterium leprae. India has achieved elimination of leprosy in December 2005 but new cases are being detected and continue to occur in some endemic pockets. The possible ways of transmission of leprosy is not fully understood and is believed that leprosy is transmitted from person to person in long term contact.

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Background: Tuberculosis (TB) recurrence observed to be an important event in its treatment and has future implications under national TB control efforts. The present study was carried out to assess the recurrence rate along with its risk factors among patients undergoing treatment for TB under Revised National TB Control Program (RNTCP).

Material And Methods: Total 204 patients in health block of district Una, Himachal Pradesh were studied using pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire.

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Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety and clinical acceptability of the local anaesthetic agent ropivacaine 0.75 % in comparison with lignocaine 2 % with adrenaline 1:200,000 in minor oral surgical procedures.

Methods: Forty-seven patients, who required bilateral extractions in a single arch, were included in this study.

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Leprosy is a chronic infection of skin and nerve caused by Mycobacterium leprae. The treatment is based on standard multi drug therapy consisting of dapsone, rifampicin and clofazamine. The use of rifampicin alone or with dapsone led to the emergence of rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium leprae strains.

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Objectives: The study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of performing a second, repeat anterior maxillary distraction (AMD) to treat residual cleft maxillary hypoplasia.

Materials And Methods: Five patients between the ages of 12 to 15 years with a history of AMD and with residual cleft maxillary hypoplasia were included in the study. Inclusion was irrespective of gender, type of cleft lip and palate, and the amount of advancement needed.

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The emergence of drug resistance in leprosy is a major hurdle in leprosy elimination programme. Although the problem of drug resistance is presently not acute, it is important that we collect data more systematically and monitor the trend carefully so that effective measures to combat this problem can be developed. The present study aimed at the explication of cross resistance of rifabutin and rifapentine to rifampicin which would be helpful to programme managers for implementing rifabutin or rifapentine in replace of rifampicin.

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