Clinico-demographic profile of COVID-19 positive patients - first wave versus second wave - an experience in north-east India.

Introduction: India witnessed two distinct COVID-19 waves. We evaluated the clinico-demographic profile of patients infected during first wave (FW) and second wave (SW) in a hospital in north-east India.

Methodology: Patients who tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 specific gene by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction across FW and SW were diagnosed as COVID-19 positive.

Presence of Resistant DEC Strains in a Tertiary Healthcare Center in North East India in Children under 18 Years.

 Diarrheal illness such as diarrheagenic (DEC), apart from rotavirus, is a common etiological agent known to cause moderate-to-severe diarrhea in low-income countries where unregulated use of antibiotics is rampant, giving rise to multidrug resistant (MDR) strains. This study is an earnest effort in reflecting the resistance pattern in such isolates.  It is a hospital-based cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 1 year (January to December, 2015).

Real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction with high-resolution melting-curve analysis for the diagnosis of enteric infections associated with diarrheagenic .

Introduction: Although diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) strains are important bacterial causative agents of diarrhoea, they are not routinely sought as stool pathogens in clinical laboratories as conventional microbiological testing are unable to distinguish between normal flora and pathogenic strains of E. coli. This study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of DEC pathotypes amongst children with and without diarrhoea and to detect specific virulent genes present in different DEC pathotypes, using real-time multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with high-resolution melting (HRM) technology.

Association of biofilm production with multidrug resistance among clinical isolates of Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from intensive care unit.

Background And Aims: Given choice, bacteria prefer a community-based, surface-bound colony to an individual existence. The inclination for bacteria to become surface bound is so ubiquitous in diverse ecosystems that it suggests a strong survival strategy and selective advantage for surface dwellers over their free-ranging counterparts. Virtually any surface, biotic or abiotic (animal, mineral, or vegetable) is suitable for bacterial colonization and biofilm formation.

Sub-cutaneous abscess caused by Nocardia asteroides in renal transplant recipient.

Nocardia is a significant opportunistic pathogen in patients with compromised immunity. Nocardia asteroides was isolated from subcutaneous abscesses on the left thigh and shoulder of a renal transplant recipient. Direct examination of the aspirated pus showed branching filaments that were gram-positive and acid fast.