Analysis of quantitative relationship between viability determination in leprosy by MFP,ATP bioluminescence and gene amplification assay

Two hundred twenty-one untreated, borderline lepromatous/lepromatous (BL/LL) leprosy patients have been investigated for viability by the mouse foot pad method (MFP), adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The biopsies were collected at the beginning of and 12/24 months after treatment. The patient group was treated with a) immunotherapy (BCG/Mw) + MDT; b) MDT + pyrazinamide; c) control MDT; d) MDT + minocycline 100 mg once a month supervised + ofloxacin 400 mg once a month supervised. Biopsies were divided in three parts for use in the mouse foot pad, molecular and ATP investigations. In untreated and treated patients (at 12 and 24 months), there was a general agreement among all three techniques, and PCR and ATP showed higher positivity as compared to MFP. Further, there was good correlation among the viable biomass estimated by bacillary ATP levels, PCR assay and growth in mouse foot pads. The positivity was observed by MFP as well as PCR assay (18-kDa and 36-kDa) from all of the specimens when the ATP content was more than 3.6 pg/million. When the ATP content was below 3.5 pg/million, the positive takes in MFP decreased but the PCR positivity correlated with ATP bioluminescence up to 0.04 pg/million. When the ATP content was even lower, the uptake in the MFP was possibly a matter of chance, while PCR positivity was observed in 96% of the cases. For specimens with undetectable ATP, positivity was seen in 1% of the cases, showing the inability of ATP bioluminescence method to detect low background due to host ATP. PCR signals in some cases could be due to the higher sensitivity of the method or persistence of DNA after bacterial death in some cases. On the whole, the PCR methods even though targeting DNA have shown good correlations with biomass which confirm their usefulness in monitoring therapeutic responses in leprosy.     

Seroprevalence of HIV infection among paediatric tuberculosis patients in Agra, India: a hospital-based study

In this study which was carried over a period of 2 years, from 2003 to 2004, 270 paediatric patients with active Tuberculosis (TB) disease attending the OPD of S.N. Medical College, Agra were screened for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)-1/2 antibodies. Of these, 23 were found to be HIV-positive. Seroprevalence of HIV infection among paediatric TB patients in Agra is 8.51% (23/270). The HIV infection was found to be significantly higher, i.e. 82.61% in male children than in female children, i.e. 17.39%. Among the age groups, which were divided into < or =1, 2-5, 6-10 and 11-15 years, maximum cases of HIV-positivity, i.e. 65.22% was observed in the age group, 2-5 years of age. Among the HIV-positive children with TB, 86.75% were of pulmonary and 13.04% were of extra-pulmonary type. Among the vaccinated children, 65.22% were found to be HIV-positive, while 34.78% of the HIV-positive children were not BCG vaccinated. HIV-positive children are more likely to suffer from prolonged fever, weight loss, failure to thrive, developmental delay, stunted growth, cough, anorexia, lethargy, lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) and hepatosplenomegaly while HIV negative are more likely to suffer from fever, diarrhoea, lymphadenitis, pallor and LRTI. 82.60% (19/23) of these TB patients had a history of positive contact with HIV, i.e. one of the parents was HIV-infected. The mode of transmission of HIV infection among paediatric TB patients was perinatal as revealed during the counselling sessions (pre-test and post-test) of both the parents.     

Mycobacterium avium bacteremia and dual infection with mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium wolinskyi in the gut of an AIDS patient--first case report

An AIDS patient was admitted to a tertiary care hospital in central India with fever, weight loss, breathlessness, night sweats, diarrhoea, BMI 14 kg/m2, Hemoglobin 8 gm% and CD4 counts 120 cells/cumm. His blood culture by BACTEC 460 TB system revealed Mycobacterium avium bacteremia and stool culture grew Mycobacterium avium and mycobacterium wolinskyi.     

Characterization of mycobacteria isolated from bovines by PRA-targetting hsp 65 gene region

Bovine tuberculosis caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis is a major infectious disease of animals and has zoonotic importance for humans. Even though the incidence is believed to be very low in India, human tuberculosis caused by M. bovis has been increasingly recognized in many other countries of the world. As differentiation of mycobacterial species take long time, a method for the rapid identification of mycobacteria isolated from bovine samples to the species level was used, which is based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the gene encoding for the 65-kD protein followed by restriction analysis. The method involves restriction enzyme analysis of PCR products obtained with primers common to all mycobacteria and generate M. tuberculosis complex specific pattern. PRA was performed on 33 bovine isolates of which 90.9% (30/33) isolates were identified clearly as M. tuberculosis complex, M. fortuitum, M. phlei and M. smegmatis using restriction enzyme Hae III.     

Warfare vascular injuries

Vascular injuries as a part of combat injuries have been recorded since times immemorial. Responsible for death due to exsanguination, the management of vascular injuries was ligation or amputation till the landmark Vietnam experience. The present day management has evolved with advances in modern technology and may start at the battlefield with the application of a tourniquet with the definitive treatment continuing beyond the combat operation theatres. A basic understanding of both blunt and penetrating vascular injuries will help minimize mortality and morbidity.     

An Update on Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)

Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a proliferative retinal vascular disease affecting the retina of premature infants. The clinical spectrum of ROP varies from spontaneous regression to bilateral retinal detachment and total blindness. Between these two extremes lies the form of ROP, which is amenable to treatment with laser photocoagulation, anti-vascular endothelial growth factor drugs or surgery. Increasing rates of preterm births coupled with better survival rates but lack of uniform quality of neonatal care and delays in diagnosis have led to increasing ROP blindness. Atypical forms of Aggressive Posterior ROP are seen in heavier birth weight babies in developing countries. Prevention of ROP by following stringent protocols for supplemental oxygen, prevention of sepsis, timely screening and laser treatment by a concerted and collaborative effort of neonatologists and ophthalmologists are required to fight the blindness from ROP.     

Emerging Capripoxvirus Disease Outbreaks in Himachal Pradesh,a Northern State of India

Both sheep and goat pox are contagious viral diseases and affect small ruminants and are caused by sheep pox virus and goat pox virus respectively that belong to genus Capripoxvirus of Poxviridae family. Huge economic losses emanating from the disease outbreaks are the results of the wool and hide damage, subsequent production losses and also the morbidities and mortalities associated with the disease. This communication highlights clinico‐epidemiological observations from the two sheep pox and one goat pox outbreaks. Grossly, multisystemic nodular lesions, mucopurulent nasal discharges and respiratory symptoms were observed in the affected animals. The morbidity, mortality and case fatality rates were 5.18%, 2.45% and 32.37%, respectively. Histopathological, haematological, molecular and serological techniques and also isolation of virus in embryonated chicken eggs were used for the diagnosis of the diseases. The spatial distribution of the disease signifies the role of common pasturelands used for grazing the animals while temporally all three outbreaks occurred in winters and were probably associated with cold stress and fodder scarcity. This is the first recorded report of Capripoxvirus infection in recent times and it highlights the disease as one of the emerging diseases in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh in India.