Dissecting an Outbreak: A Clinico-epidemiological Study of Nipah Virus Infection in Kerala, India, 2018.

Background: An outbreak of Nipah virus infection was confirmed in Kerala, India in May 2018. Five out of 23 cases including the first laboratory-confirmed case were treated at Baby Memorial Hospital (BMH), Kozhikode. The study describes the clinical characteristics and epidemiology of the Nipah virus outbreak at Kozhikode during May 2018.

Fragmented QRS - Its significance.

Fragment QRS (fQRS) complex is a myocardial conduction abnormality that indicates myocardial scar. It is defined as additional notches in the QRS complex. Though initially fQRS was defined in the setting of normal QRS duration (<120 m s), later it has been expanded to include conditions with wide QRS complexes as in bundle branch block, ventricular ectopy and paced rhythm, when more than 2 notches are present.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum in H1N1 infection: uncommon complication of a common infection.

H1N1 viral infection leads to complications, such as pneumonia, respiratory failure, myocarditis and encephalitis. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) is an extremely rare consequence of H1N1 infection and such cases have been sparsely reported. SPM is identified only by a careful clinical examination and obtaining a timely roentgenogram.

Pontine haemorrhage disguised as Bell's palsy.

Isolated facial nerve palsy is a common presentation of Bell's palsy, but rarely seen in pontine lesions. The patient being reported is a middle-aged man who developed isolated facial nerve palsy and was initially treated as Bell's palsy. However, on MRI of the brain, he was found to have pontine haemorrhage.

Twenty-Four Syndrome: An Untold Presentation of Pontine Hemorrhage.

Pontine hemorrhages are relatively uncommon. Various atypical manifestations of pontine stroke like eight-and-a-half syndrome, fifteen-and-a-half syndrome, and sixteen syndrome have been described in the past. We came across a case of pontine bleed that presented with bilateral facial palsy, bilateral horizontal gaze palsy, and contralateral sensorineural hearing loss accounting to the hitherto not described "twenty-four syndrome" with Horner's syndrome and left hemiparesis.