Antimicrobial stewardship implementation in primary and secondary tier hospitals in India: interim findings from a need assessment study using mixed method design.

Anti-microbial stewardship program (AMSP) is practiced only in tertiary hospitals in India, though, the lower tier hospitals remain the first point of contact in patient care. This study was conducted in lower tier hospitals to calculate antibiotic and multiple antibiotic prescription rate (APR, MPR) for common infections and finding existing strength of health system for optimizing antibiotic prescription. We conducted a cross sectional convergent parallel mix-method study in eight lower tier hospitals of three districts of West Bengal, India.

Evaluation of Pertussis Disease in Young Infants in India: A Hospital-Based Multicentric Observational Study.

Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of laboratory-confirmed pertussis (LCP) among infants hospitalized with acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and meeting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended clinical case definition.

Methods: An investigator-initiated active surveillance for clinically suspected cases (CSCs) of pertussis screened infants aged ≤6 mo hospitalized with ARIs during January 2020-April 2022 at seven centers across India. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect Bordetella pertussis in nasopharyngeal swabs.

Rationality of Prescriptions by Rational Use of Medicine Consensus Approach in Common Respiratory and Gastrointestinal Infections: An Outpatient Department Based Cross-Sectional Study from India.

Background: Drug utilisation studies are relevant for the analysis of prescription rationality and are pertinent in today's context of the increasing burden of antimicrobial resistance. Prescriptions for patients with diarrhoea or Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) have been analysed in this study to understand the prescription pattern among various categories of prescribers in two tertiary care centers.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2019 to December 2020 in the medicine and pediatrics outpatient departments of two government teaching hospitals in West Bengal, India.

Survival of Persons Living With HIV/AIDS: A Multicentric Study From India.

Background: It has been more than 17 years since the introduction of free ART in India. At this point, it would be prudent to look at the factors associated with the survival of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (PLHA) who are already enrolled in the ART program.

Methods: PLHAs enrolled from antiretroviral therapy (ART) centers located in three different cities in India - Delhi, Pune and Kolkata, and were followed up at six monthly intervals monitoring the WHO stage, CD4 counts, complete blood counts, and liver and kidney function tests, for a duration of three years.

Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Nutritional Anemia in Children: Recommendations of the Joint Committee of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Chapter and Pediatric and Adolescent Nutrition Society of the Indian Academy of Pediatrics.

Justification: Anemia in children is a significant public health problem in our country. Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016-18 provides evidence that more than 50% of childhood anemia is due to an underlying nutritional deficiency. The National Family Health Survey-5 has reported an increase in the prevalence of anemia in the under-five age group from 59% to 67.

COVID-19 and Co-infection in Children: The Indian Perspectives.

Background And Objectives: Assessing the co-infections with COVID-19 is crucial to delineate its true clinical impact. Pediatric information in this aspect is limited. Our study aims to analyze the spectrum of co-infections in pediatric COVID-19 patients and determine the clinical as well as laboratory parameters predicting co-infection.

Infant COVID-19 Infection: An Experience from Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Dedicated Pediatric COVID Hospital.

This study aimed to assess different clinical, disease severity, laboratory, treatment, and outcome-related factors of COVID-19 positive infants admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and to compare these parameters with COVID-19 positive noninfants (1-12 years of age) who also required intensive care admission. This retrospective observational study was conducted in a PICU of a tertiary care, dedicated pediatric COVID facility. The clinical, epidemiological, laboratory parameters, and treatment outcomes of COVID-19 infected infants admitted to the PICU were recorded and analyzed.

Scrub Typhus-Associated Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: Not a Rare Entity in Pediatric Age Group.

Background: Our goal was to study the demographic, clinical and laboratory profile and outcome of scrub typhus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in the pediatric age group.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study in a tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of 1 year. Children in the age group of 1 month to 12 years with IgM ELISA positive for scrub typhus were included in the study.

An Unusual Etiology of Cerebellar Ataxia.

Cerebellar ataxia, which is the lack of coordination, has a number of causes none of which are as uncommon or unheard of as Scrub typhus. Scrub typhus very rarely presents itself with CNS manifestations. Here, we present the case of a 7-year-old girl from the Hooghly district in West Bengal, who presented to us with the history of fever, cerebellar signs, and sudden onset of visual loss.

Acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy.

The authors report an 11-mo-old child presenting with acute onset appearance of large, erythematous, palpable purpuric lesions involving face, extremities and trunk. Skin biopsy from the margin of the lesions showed leukocytoclastic vasculitis suggesting a diagnosis of acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy. This rare type of cutaneous vasculitis, despite its grave presentation is a benign condition with self-limiting course.

Ghosal hematodiaphyseal dysplasia with myelofibrosis.

Diaphyseal dysplasia with refractory anemia requiring blood transfusion is a relatively new entity having possible autosomal recessive inheritance. Prednisolone therapy alleviates the need for repeated transfusion. One such case is being reported here.

Rare association of central pontine myelinolysis with infantile tremor syndrome.

Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) is an acute demyelination within the central basis pontis. Though exact mechanism is not known it is seen commonly with rapid correction of hyponatremia and also with pontine ischemia or infarction, demyelinating diseases, pontine neoplasm and different metabolic diseases. We report a rare association of CPM in a patient of Infantile Tremor Syndrom (ITS).

A randomized controlled trial of oral zinc in acute pneumonia in children aged between 2 months to 5 years.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of zinc supplementation as adjuvant in treatment of pneumonia.

Methods: Ninety-eight children with acute bacterial pneumonia, aged between 2 months to 5 years, were studied in a randomized controlled single blind design. They received either zinc supplementation, as zinc acetate syrup, or placebo, as vitamin B-complex syrup, for 14 days, concomitantly with antimicrobial treatment (49 per group).