Decreasing antibiotic over-use by implementation of an antibiotic stewardship programme in preterm neonates in resource limited settings - a quality improvement initiative.

Background: Antibiotics play a critical role in neonatal sepsis but excessive use is associated with adverse outcomes and the current prescribing rates of antibiotics are unacceptably high.

Aim: To reduce antibiotic over-use in preterm neonates by implementing an antibiotic stewardship programme using a quality improvement (QI) initiative.

Methods: This study was conducted at a neonatal intensive care unit in a resource-limited setting.

Phylogenetic diversity of isolates in patients with scrub typhus in Bengaluru, India.

Scrub typhus has re-emerged as an important cause of acute febrile illness in India. There is a dearth of information on strain diversity of Orientia tsutsugamushi from Karnataka, India, hence the present study sought to address this issue. One hundred clinically suspected cases of scrub typhus/rickettsiosis (as per the DHR-ICMR guidelines) were included.

Newborn Screening for Five Conditions in a Tertiary Care Government Hospital in Bengaluru, South India-Three Years Experience.

Purpose: Newborn screening is the need of the hour in a developing country like India as there is paucity of data from studies conducted in government hospitals with large sample size. The purpose of the study is to estimate incidence rate and recall rates for five conditions screened in the neonatal period namely congenital hypothyroidism, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, galactosemia and phenyl ketonuria (PKU).

Methods: The study was conducted at VaniVilas Hospital attached to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute.