Publications by authors named "Kalpana George"

India experienced its sixth Nipah virus (NiV) outbreak in September 2023 in the Kozhikode district of Kerala state. The NiV is primarily transmitted by spillover events from infected bats followed by human-to-human transmission. The clinical specimens were screened using real-time RT-PCR, and positive specimens were further characterized using next-generation sequencing.

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Enhanced susceptibility to microbes, often resulting in severe, intractable and frequent infections due to usually innocuous organisms at uncommon sites, is the most striking feature in individuals with an inborn error of immunity. In this narrative review, based on the International Union of Immunological Societies' 2022 (IUIS 2022) Update on phenotypic classification of human inborn errors of immunity, the focus is on commonly encountered Combined Immunodeficiency Disorders (CIDs) with susceptibility to infections. Combined immune deficiency disorders are usually commensurate with survival beyond infancy unlike Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) and are often associated with clinical features of a syndromic nature.

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We report here a Nipah virus (NiV) outbreak in Kozhikode district of Kerala state, India, which had caused fatal encephalitis in a 12-year-old boy and the outbreak response, which led to the successful containment of the disease and the related investigations. Quantitative real-time reverse transcription (RT)-PCR, ELISA-based antibody detection, and whole genome sequencing (WGS) were performed to confirm the NiV infection. Contacts of the index case were traced and isolated based on risk categorization.

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rapidly spread from a city in China to almost every country in the world, affecting millions of individuals. The rapid increase in the COVID-19 cases in the state of Kerala in India has necessitated the understanding of SARS-CoV-2 genetic epidemiology. We sequenced 200 samples from patients in Kerala using COVIDSeq protocol amplicon-based sequencing.

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Background And Objective: Breast cancer is a frequently diagnosed cancer in women, contributing to significant mortality rates. Death rates are relatively higher in developing nations due to the shortage of early detection amenities and constraints on access to technical advances combating this disease. The only way to diagnose cancer with certainty is through biopsy performed by pathologists.

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Background And Objective: Breast cancer is a commonly detected cancer among women, resulting in a high number of cancer-related mortality. Biopsy performed by pathologists is the final confirmation procedure for breast cancer diagnosis. Computer-aided diagnosis systems can support the pathologist for better diagnosis and also in reducing subjective errors.

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Introduction: Infections with MRSA, both community and hospital acquired, are well established and the source of infection is often a carrier. There are very few studies showing the magnitude of MRSA nasal colonization among healthy persons from the community. This study was conducted to detect the prevalence of MRSA nasal carriage in patients who did not have any known risk factors associated with HA- MRSA colonization, admitted to a tertiary care centre in Kerala.

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All 899 roommates exposed to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) index cases were studied over 57 months. MRSA detection is better at approximately 3 days (50%-55%) or 7 days (56%) after contact has been broken than day 0 (30%). Polymerase chain reaction testing at day 3 performs similarly to culture at day 7.

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