Publications by authors named "Muruganandam Nagarajan"

The decline in dengue incidence and/or prevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-22) appears to be attributed to reduced treatment-seeking rates, under-reporting, misdiagnosis, disrupted health services and reduced exposure to mosquito vectors due to prevailing lockdowns. There is limited scientific data on dengue virus (DENV) disease during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we conducted a community-based, cross-sectional, cluster-randomized survey to assess anti-DENV and anti-SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence, and also estimated the spatial distribution of DENV-positive aedine mosquito vectors during the COVID-19 pandemic across all the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu, India.

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Background: Respiratory viral illnesses among children are a prominent cause of morbidity and mortality in the developing world. The aim of this study is to understand the seasonal pattern and surge of respiratory viruses among the Nicobarese tribe.

Methods: Respiratory specimens were collected from both ARI and SARI cases attended the BJR district hospital in Car Nicobar Island, India, between 2021 and 2022.

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Background: Dengue is a vector-borne viral disease impacting millions across the globe. Nevertheless, akin to many other diseases, reports indicated a decline in dengue incidence and seroprevalence during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020-22). This presumably could be attributed to reduced treatment-seeking rates, under-reporting, misdiagnosis, disrupted health services and reduced exposure to vectors due to lockdowns.

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Introduction: Human mastadenovirus (HAdV) types 8, 37, 64 have been considered the major contributors in Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) epidemics, but recent surveillance data have shown the involvement of emerging recombinants, including HAdV-53, HAdV-54, and HAdV-56. In our initial work, positive samples for adenovirus revealed that our strains were closer to HAdV-54 than HAdV-8. Hence, the current study aimed to use whole genome technology to identify the HAdV strain correctly.

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Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is associated with cervical cancer and cervical dysplasia worldwide. Data on HPV prevalence in a region is important because it serves as a predictor of the likelihood of the population in that particular region acquiring cervical cancer. Moreover, with the availability of effective vaccines, the public health system must be aware of the preponderance of HPV to implement the vaccine.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Researchers collected 709 swabs over three years and found that 47.8% tested positive for Human Adenovirus, while lower rates were observed for other agents like HSV and Enterovirus.
  • * The findings highlight that HAdV is the leading cause of keratoconjunctivitis, which can help inform public health strategies and prevent unnecessary antibiotic use.
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Introduction Human adenoviruses are common causes of many acute illnesses, and keratoconjunctivitis is one of them. Acute infections, if left untreated, can progress to severity, thus causing morbidities and mortalities. It belongs to the mastadenovirus family and is characterized by seven subgenus, i.

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Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) causes various types of cancer in both men and women. Woman with HPV infection has a risk of developing invasive cervical cancer. Globally, HPV 16 and 18 were predominant.

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Background: Trichomoniasis is a common sexually transmitted infection among both men and women, worldwide. The prevalence of trichomoniasis among married women in the remote Indian population is more important, yet they rarely sought treatment. This was the first-ever study conducted on the prevalence of (TV) in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

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Article Synopsis
  • Leptospirosis is a widespread spirochaetal infection that affects a variety of mammals, and this study compares diagnostic methods for detecting it in humans.
  • The research evaluates the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) against two point-of-care tests: the IgM dot ELISA dipstick test (IgM-DED) and the latex agglutination test (LAT), using Bayesian latent class modeling to analyze their effectiveness.
  • Results show that the IgM-DED and LAT provide high sensitivity for early detection of leptospirosis, outperforming the single MAT test, and suggest that these point-of-care tests are practical for use in remote areas, while combining acute and convalescent samples significantly boosts MAT sensitivity.
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Background: Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) are public health burdens globally. The percentage of non-SARS CoV-2 respiratory viruses among patients having ARI and SARI who visit Car Nicobar's hospital settings is undocumented. Changes in the epidemiology of other respiratory viruses during COVID19 pandemic is being reported worldwide.

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Objective: To investigate an outbreak of Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in Andaman Islands during 2013.

Methods: Epidemiological, clinical data and samples were collected from HFMD patients who attended selected hospitals. Data were analyzed and samples were processed for detection of Enterovirus and further confirmed by sequencing.

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Climatic changes are responsible, to a certain extent for the occurrence and spread of arboviral pathogens world over. Temperature is one of the important abiotic factors influencing the physiological processes of mosquitoes. Several genes of heat shock protein (HSP) families are known to be expressed in mosquitoes, which aid in overcoming stress induced by elevated temperature.

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Background: An outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) occurred in the Andaman Islands in 2013. Therefore, we aimed to identify the aetiological agent and to explore its genetic characteristics.

Methods: Clinical specimens were subjected to virus isolation, further confirmed by sequencing the partial VP1/2A region of enterovirus, and analysed using MEGA 6 software with intra-serotype reference sequences.

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Lifestyle and dietary habits are crucial features that can alter the gut microbiome of humans. Humans, along with their gut microbes, have coevolved in order to sustain themselves in different environments. They were able to adapt themselves to the dietary sources available in their environment.

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Biology and pathogenesis of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) are not clearly established. Host factors play an important role in determining the progression and severity of the disease. Polymorphisms in the promoter region of CD209 gene (rs735239, rs4804803, rs2287886) and OAS1 (rs1131454 and rs10774671), OAS2 (rs15895 and rs1732778), and OAS3 (rs2285932 and rs2072136) genes were investigated in 100 patients with CHIKV infection and 101 healthy controls to find out the association of these polymorphisms with CHIKV infection.

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The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence of basal core promoter (BCP) and precore gene (PC) mutations in hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolates among the Nicobarese tribe and their relationship with genotypes and HBeAg status. A total of 726 blood samples were collected from two villages of the Car Nicobar Island where mass vaccination was performed in the year 2000. HBV DNA was isolated and the BCP and PC regions were amplified and sequenced directly.

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The present study was undertaken to understand the distribution and the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the uropathogens in the remote islands of India. Patients' demographical data, urine culture results, and resistance rates were analyzed and multidrug resistant isolates were characterized. Significant bacteriuria was found in 16 (17.

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A sudden upsurge of fever cases with joint pain was observed in the outpatient department, Community Health Centre, Rangat during July-August 2010 in Rangat Middle Andaman, India. The aetiological agent responsible for the outbreak was identified as chikungunya virus (CHIKV), by using RT-PCR and IgM ELISA. The study investigated the association of polymorphisms in the human leucocyte antigen class II genes with susceptibility or protection against CHIKV.

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Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an important emerging mosquito-borne alphavirus, indigenous to tropical Africa and Asia. It can cause epidemic fever and acute illness characterized by fever and arthralgias. The epidemic cycle of this infection is similar to dengue and urban yellow fever viral infections.

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Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has caused large outbreaks worldwide in recent years. Acute-phase CHIKV infection has been reported to cause mild to severe febrile illness, and in some patients, this may be followed by long-lasting polyarthritis. The mainstay of treatment includes nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and other disease-modifying agents, the use of which is based on the assumption of an immunological interference mechanism in the pathogenesis.

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