Category: Infection

<!– –> Cases of conjunctivitis and other eye infections are on the rise in Delhi (representational) New Delhi: Schools in Delhi have reported rising cases of eye infections lasting for three to four days on average, with some sending at least 10 to 12 children showing symptoms back home every day to check the spread of the contagion. Cases of conjunctivitis and other eye infections are on the rise in Delhi, with many doctors cautioning that they are “highly contagious” and proper hygiene behaviour needs to be maintained to check their spread. St Mary’s school principal Annie Koshi said that children who are suffering from eye infections are mostly from class 4 to class 7 and that, they are recovering within three to four days. “Students are recovering and coming back for classes in three to four days,” Ms Koshi told PTI. “However, we have been sending at least 10 to 12 students back home each day due to this. There are no cases of typhoid or any other diseases in St Mary’s school yet,” she added. Students suffering from eye infections have been asked by schools not to come to classes until they have completely recovered. They are also being sensitised by their respective principals and teachers, the president of Delhi State Public School Management Association, RC Jain said. Principal of ITL Public School Sudha Acharya said cases are more prominent amongst the children in the primary section. “Students with eye infection have been missing school for 2-3 days but for typhoid and stomach infection, students are taking medical leave of at least a week. We are taking all possible precautionary measures,” Ms Acharya said. Neeru Vijh of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in Vasundhara Enclave said that more than 10 per cent of the students have been suffering from eye infections in their school. “We are sensitising our students. Teachers are talking about this before beginning their lecture. Even though there are no cases of typhoid in our school, we get our water tanks cleaned from time to time,” Ms Vijh told PTI. Experts underline the need to carry hand sanitisers, while noting that there has been a 50 per cent surge in conjunctivitis cases in OPDs. Sharing numbers, Dr Soveeta Rath, Paediatric Ophthalmology, Strabismus, and Neuro-Ophthalmology, Dr Shroff’s Charity Eye Hospital, in Delhi, said they have observed a notable surge of 50 per cent in conjunctivitis cases in their OPDs. “Particularly affecting children and teenagers, these cases typically present with symptoms like redness, watery eyes, discharge, and a foreign body sensation in the eyes. “It is necessary to maintain hygiene, especially for kids who are going to school. Each kid should have a separate towel and napkin. They should avoid touching contaminated surfaces or their eyes, as the conjunctivitis virus can spread through contact,” she said. It is important that kids sanitise their hands after touching any surface and keep hand sanitisers with them, she added. Delhi government-run hospitals are “on alert”, especially related to cases of conjunctivitis, fungal infections and vector-borne diseases, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Tuesday. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) Featured Video Of The Day Katrina Kaif-Vicky Kaushal Smile As Paparazzi Says “Lovely Jodi” To Them

The World Health Organization warned on Friday that cases of dengue fever could reach close to record highs this year, partly due to global warming and the way that climate has helped the mosquitoes that spread it, Reuters reported. Rates of the disease are climbing worldwide, “with reported cases since 2000 up eight-fold to 4.2 million in 2022,” according to the same source. “Europe has reported a surge in cases and Peru declared a state of emergency in most regions.” However, international travelers in the US who are looking for protection against this tropical infectious disease spread by mosquitoes will have to wait a little longer. On July 11, the Japanese drug-maker Takeda voluntarily withdrew its application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its dengue vaccine candidate in the US after the agency requested more data that the current trial could not capture, according to a press release. A dengue vaccine from the company is already approved in multiple endemic and non-endemic areas, such as the European Union, United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia and Thailand. Only one FDA-approved vaccine for dengue exists in the US.Getty Images/iStockphoto There is only one dengue vaccine approved by the FDA in the US, but it is indicated only for children and teenagers ages six to 16 living in endemic areas — mainly Puerto Rico — who have previously had the infection. ‘Occurring in urban areas where it did not exist before’ The World Health Organization listed dengue fever as one of the top 10 threats to global health in 2019. Keep up with today’s most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Roughly half the world’s population, or about 4 billion people, live in places that are at risk for dengue fever, with some 400 million people infected every year. One country, Peru, is currently battling its worst outbreak in history. “Dengue is occurring in urban areas where it did not exist before,” Dr. Coralith García, associate professor at the school of medicine at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru, told Fox News Digital. Experts blame warmer temperatures and increased rainfall, but even in Lima, the second largest desert city in the world, dengue is flourishing because “it’s so crowded that anything can happen,” she added. “But Peru had the highest COVID mortality rate [in] the world and now we have several patients dying of dengue, confirming that the Peruvian health system is very weak.” Most Americans get infected with dengue fever while traveling internationally. Dengue fever can be caused by four variations of the dengue virus. Getty Images/iStockphoto Yet it can spread locally in several states with hot, humid climates, such as Florida, Hawaii, Texas, and Arizona — although this is not common, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). From January to June 1 of this year, there were 129 reported cases in the US and 256 reported cases in Puerto Rico, according to the CDC. What is dengue fever? Dengue fever is caused by four viruses: dengue virus 1, 2, 3, and 4. It is spread primarily by the bite of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which bites generally during the day, per the CDC. A person can get infected as many as four times because one virus strain only confers immunity against that specific serotype; people are at higher risk for a life-threatening condition called dengue hemorrhagic fever when they are infected twice, per the CDC. About one in four people with dengue fever become sick, which can be either a mild or severe illness; but some 40,000 die from severe disease every year, according to the CDC. Dengue fever is the leading cause of fever among returning travelers to Europe from all continents except Africa, according to a recent study on the tropical disease. International travelers often complain of a fever with dengue within two weeks after returning home, but symptoms generally resolve within one week. Dengue has three phases, including fever phase, critical phase, and recovery phase. Getty Images Know the critical phase Dengue has 3 phases of disease: 1) fever phase; 2) critical phase; and 3) recovery phase. The fever phase, named after its most common symptom, is characterized by severe joint pain and headaches, but most patients recover without complications, Dr. David O. Freedman, professor emeritus of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told Fox News Digital. The disease’s hallmark bone and joint pains have earned it the nickname “breakbone fever.” “In a small proportion of patients, just as the fever is resolving, a second critical phase develops where fluid leaks out of the circulation and gets into body spaces, such as the chest and abdominal cavities,” he added. During this phase, the blood pressure drops; severe bleeding may also occur. Warning signs and symptoms Freedman recommends watching for abdominal pain or tenderness; 2) persistent vomiting; 3) fluid in body spaces; 4) bleeding from the mouth or rectum; and 5) lethargy and restlessness. Any of these combined with a fever increase the likelihood of patients becoming very sick and needing to be hospitalized. He also reminds people that “a total body rash often develops during the critical or early recovery phase.” Freedman noted, “If the patient survives the critical phase usually with medical intervention, the third phase, recovery, occurs about 3-4 days after that.” Most have an ‘uncomplicated course’ A recent paper analyzed nearly 6,000 returning travelers with dengue using the GeoSentinel network surveillance platform. The network is a collaboration between the CDC and the International Society of Travel Medicine. It monitors infectious diseases in 29 countries on six continents that affect international travelers and migrants. The researchers looked at the patients with dengue fever, which was relatively mild illness without any complications, or “complicated dengue,” which included those who had warning signs or severe illness. They found only 2% of dengue cases were considered “complicated,” but approximately 99% had warning signs, with 31% classified as severe. “Most of the time it is an

With the Bioethics Unit of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) placing a consensus policy statement on Controlled Human Infection Studies (CHIS) for comments, India has taken the first step in clearing the deck for such studies to be undertaken here. CHIS, also called human challenge studies, where healthy volunteers are intentionally exposed to a disease-causing microbe in a highly controlled and monitored environment, has been carried out for hundreds of years, an example being the yellow fever study in the early 1900s to establish that mosquitoes transmit the virus. Typically, a less virulent strain of the microbe is used to study less deadly diseases that have proven drugs for treatment. They are more often undertaken on a small number of volunteers to understand the various facets of infection and disease, and, occasionally, to accelerate the development process of a medical intervention. When used as part of vaccine development, these studies are initiated only when safety and immune responses of the candidate vaccines are known through early phases of clinical testing. Importantly, human challenge studies are not done as an alternative to phase-3 efficacy trials, but to help select the best candidate for testing in a conventional phase-3 clinical trial. Phase-3 clinical trials that follow human challenge studies often require fewer volunteers, speeding up the development process. In the last 50 years, CHIS studies have been carried out with thousands to accelerate vaccine development against typhoid and cholera. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Imperial College London used 36 volunteers to study facets of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. In 2020, the World Health Organization approved using CHIS for accelerating COVID-19 vaccine development. There are several ethical challenges with human challenge studies, which require well-trained and robust systems in place. While collaborations with institutions and scientists well versed in conducting such studies are a must, navigating the ethical minefield is a challenge. Several clinical trials, including those by or involving the ICMR, have been mired in ethical violations, such as the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine trial in Andhra Pradesh, in 2010. The ethical challenges while conducting CHIS are of a higher magnitude, the scope for misuse vast, and the repercussions severe. There is potential for exploitation, given the monetary dimension involving volunteers. If it becomes a reality, India should use CHIS only to study diseases with safe and effective treatment. Using CHIS to study novel microbes/disease with limited medical intervention should wait till Indian scientists gain expertise, and robust institutional structures and mechanisms are in place. COMMents SHARE Copy link Email Facebook Twitter Telegram LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Related Topics disease / ethics / medical research / prescription drugs / health treatment / Coronavirus / India / United Kingdom / vaccines

Jul 25, 2023, 5:13pmUpdated 12h ago Authorities are urging tri-state residents to take precautions to prevent rabies infections in people and pets. Rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus that attacks the central nervous system. It can be transmitted from infected mammals to humans and other mammals. While rabies is rare in humans, precautions should still be taken by avoiding contact with wild animals and ensuring that pets are vaccinated. Rabies is most commonly seen in wild animals, such as raccoons, skunks, foxes, deer, groundhogs, coyotes and bats, according to the New York state Department of Health. Any mammal can be infected, including household pets like dogs and cats and other domestic animals such as horses and livestock. HOW IT IS TRANSMITTED The virus is transmitted by infected animals through their saliva and can infect people and animals through a bite or if the saliva gets into the eyes, nose, mouth or a break in the skin. WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE EXPOSED People who are exposed to rabies should wash the bite or exposure area thoroughly with soap and water and immediately seek medical attention. Treatment for rabies should be administered as soon as possible after exposure. Treatment includes a dose of human rabies immune globulin and four doses of rabies vaccine administered over a two-week period. Exposure to a rabid animal does not always result in rabies. Rabies can be prevented if treatment is initiated promptly following an exposure. If a rabies exposure is not treated and a person develops clinical signs of rabies, the disease almost always results in death. PRECAUTIONS TO AVOID THE RISK OF RABIES INFECTIONS Don’t feed, touch or adopt wild animals, stray dogs or feral cats. Report all animal bites or contact with wild animals to the local county health department. If possible, do not let any animal escape that has possibly exposed someone to rabies. Be sure pet dogs, cats and ferrets, as well as horses and other livestock animals are up to date on their rabies vaccinations. Vaccination protects pets if they are exposed to rabid animals. Pets too young to be vaccinated should only be allowed outside under direct observation. Keep family pets indoors at night. Don’t leave them outside unattended or let them roam free. Teach children not to touch any animal they do not know and to tell an adult immediately if they are bitten by any animal. Keep property free of stored bird seed or other foods to avoid attracting wild animals. Also, feed pets indoors and cap garbage cans. Cover any openings to the attic, basement, porch or garage and cap chimneys with screens. Bring children and pets indoors and alert neighbors who are outside if wild animals enter the property. If you find animals living in or around parts of your home, consult a nuisance wildlife control expert about removing them. The local health department should be contacted if a bat is found inside the house. They will advise on what to do with the bat. Pet owners should contact the local health department or a veterinarian if their pet has been in a fight with another animal. A rabies booster vaccination may be needed. Share this story

Multiple sinus infections led to a life-altering situation for San Jose martial arts instructor, Natasha Gunther Santana, 26, who had to undergo a craniotomy to remove half of her skull following the spread of infection to her brain. The healthy mom had experienced five sinus infections in 2021 that were previously treatable with antibiotics. However, the persistent symptoms of vomiting, severe migraines, and uncharacteristic mood changes suggested the medication was no longer effective for the most recent infection. @natasha_santana97 This is the story on how I lost half my skull 😌 (don’t worry I’ll get it back soon) #tbi #traumaticbraininjury #brainsurgery #braininjury #sinusinfection #sinussurgery #sinuses #brain #craniotomy #craniectomy #skullremoval #stanford #speechtherapy #hospitallife #skull #badluck #viral #fyp #surgery #surgerycheck #surgeryrecovery #tbisurvivor #tbiawareness #fyp ♬ original sound – Natasha Alyena Santana It was discovered that Santana had a mutated gene that impeded the production of a protein responsible for initiating an immune response to foreign invaders, according to the Daily Mail. Consequently, the inability of antibiotics to fight the infection led to its spread to her brain, requiring the removal of a large part of her skull. Following the craniotomy in December 2021, Santana faced various post-surgery challenges, including a seizure, deep vein thrombosis, and the need to learn how to walk and talk again through intense therapy. After several months of recovery, Santana finally returned to teaching martial arts. Sharing her story on TikTok, Santana warned others with recurrent sinus infections to seek medical help from an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist, rather than relying solely on primary care doctors. By consulting an ENT, individuals may be able to better address sinus infections before they lead to life-threatening complications, such as Santana’s ordeal. The development of a brain abscess following persistent sinus infections has been linked to the body’s ability to adapt to certain antibiotic medications. Frequent antibiotic use may cause the infection to become resistant to the medication, leading to chronic or recurrent sinus infections. If left untreated, the infection may affect the thin bones separating the sinuses from the brain, eventually entering the brain and causing tissue inflammation that requires urgent surgical removal.

Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations have risen by more than 10% across the country, according to new data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the largest percent increase in this key indicator of the virus since December. At least 7,109 admissions of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 were reported for the week of July 15 nationwide, the CDC said late Monday, up from 6,444 during the week before. Another important hospital metric has also been trending up in recent weeks: an average of 0.73% of the past week’s emergency room visits had COVID-19 as of July 21, up from 0.49% through June 21. The new figures come after months of largely slowing COVID-19 trends nationwide since the last wave of infections over the winter. “COVID-19 indicators, including hospital admissions, emergency department visits, test positivity, and wastewater levels, are increasing nationally,” the CDC said in an update posted to its data tracker dated July 24, 2023. Only one part of the country did not record more hospitalizations last week compared to the week prior: the Midwestern region spanning Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. For now, hospitalizations remain far below the levels recorded at this time last year nationwide. July 2022 peaked at more than 44,000 weekly hospitalizations and 5% of emergency room visits with COVID-19 during a summer surge that strained many hospitals. Projections have differed over what the coming months will hold. An ensemble of academic and federal modelers said last month that the “main period of COVID-19 activity is expected to occur in late fall and early winter over the next 2 years, with median peak incidence between November and mid-January.” They cautioned that there were considerable differences between models within the group, with some teams projecting an additional smaller peak elsewhere in the year. In the U.S., 2021 saw larger peaks in August and December, driven by the Delta and Omicron variants, respectively. In 2022, hospitalizations peaked at similar levels in July and January, driven by different descendants of the original Omicron variants. Variants and vaccines Unlike previous waves, no single variant has yet emerged this summer to dominate infections nationwide. Instead, the CDC’s current projections estimate that a mix of descendants from the XBB variant that first drove infections last winter are now competing around the country. Largest among these XBB subvariants are infections grouped as the XBB.1.16, XBB.1.9.1, XBB.2.3, XBB.1.6 or EG.5 strains, which each make up between 10% and 15% of infections nationwide. Experts had previously singled out EG.5 as one of the fastest-growing lineages worldwide. EG.5 is a descendant of the XBB.1.9.2 variant, with an additional mutation that might be helping it outcompete other strains. It comes as health authorities have been racing to prepare for a new round of COVID-19 vaccinations this fall. Updated vaccines are expected to be available by late September, the CDC said earlier this month, after the FDA requested that drugmakers begin producing new formulations targeting these kinds of XBB strains. Government distribution of current supplies is due to wind down next week in advance of the update, which will also mark the switchover to a traditional commercial market for vaccines. However, the CDC says current supplies of shots will still be shipped until September for “exceptional” situations. “While many individuals may wait to receive a COVID-19 vaccine until the updated version is released, as it is expected to provide more robust protection against currently circulating variants, certain individuals may need or desire a COVID-19 vaccine prior to the anticipated release of the updated vaccine in the fall,” the agency said.

Infections can present with many different symptoms, and one common symptom is wasting, which involves the loss of fat and in extreme cases lean muscle as well. Researchers in the lab of Salk Institute professor Janelle Ayres, PhD, have now found that that in mice, wasting response to infection by the parasite Trypanosoma brucei—the causative agent of sleeping sickness—occurs in two phases, each regulated by different immune cells. Their study results showed that during T. brucei infection, it is CD4+ T cells that play a role in the development of sickness-induced anorexia and fat wasting, while CD8+ T cells are linked with cachexia. The findings also suggested that while fat loss did not benefit the fight against infection, muscle loss did—a surprising clue that some wasting may help manage illness. The study results might help to inform the future development of more effective therapeutics that spare people from wasting, as well as increase understanding of how wasting influences survival and morbidity across infections, cancers, chronic illnesses, and other disorders. “We often make assumptions that conditions like wasting are bad, since they often coincide with higher mortality rates,” said Ayres, Salk Institute Legacy Chair and head of the Molecular and Systems Physiology Laboratory. “But if instead we ask, what is the purpose of wasting? We can find surprising and insightful answers that can help us understand the human response to infection and how we can optimize that response.” Ayers is senior author of the team’s published paper in Cell Reports, which is titled “CD4+ T cells regulate sickness-induced anorexia and fat wasting during a chronic parasitic infection.” Infections cause reprogramming of host metabolic processes, the authors explained, and clinically, the most obvious metabolic response to infection is energy stores wasting. Cachexia is what the team describes as “an extreme catabolic state,” and is characterized by unintentional weight loss and muscle loss, which can include fat loss. Wasting in which there is only fat loss is known as adipose tissue wasting. However, the team continued, “Whether cachexia or adipose tissue wasting serves functional roles during infections remains unknown, but they are both typically viewed as maladaptive consequences of host-pathogen interactions.” Defending the body from an invading pathogen takes a lot of energy, and will require what the investigators describe as “trade-offs with other biological functions.” Prior studies have suggested that this immune-related energy consumption has wasting as an unfortunate side effect. Ayres and team were curious to know whether wasting could be beneficial, and not just a side effect. Trypanosoma brucei parasites (dark blue) among mouse blood cells (light blue and white). [Salk Institute] T cells are immune cells that are relatively slow to respond to infections, but when they do respond, they adapt to fight the particular infection. Ayres was interested to know whether it was these T cells causing wasting. If T cells are responsible for the condition, that would indicate wasting is not simply an unproductive side effect of energy-hungry immune cells. Of particular interest to the researchers were CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. CD4+ T cells lead the fight against infection and can promote the activity of CD8+ T cells, which can kill invaders and cancerous cells. The two T cell types often work together, so the team hypothesized their role in wasting may be a cooperative effort, too. “A better understanding of the roles of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in regulating energy stores and how this relates to their functions in host defense is necessary,” they pointed out. To work out the association between CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and wasting, the researchers studied infection with the parasite T. brucei, which resides in fat and can block the adaptive immune response, which includes T cells. This represented an ideal infection to address questions about fat wasting and how T cells mediate that process. “… we utilized a T. brucei-mouse infection model to investigate the role of the adaptive immune response in adipose tissue wasting and cachexia and to determine what function these catabolic responses have for host defense,” they commented. Using this model, the team investigated the role of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells during T. brucei infection in mice, and also assessed how removal of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells changed the longevity, mortality rates, parasite symptoms, and parasitic burden in infected animals. From left: Janelle Ayres, Siva Varanasi, Karina Sanchez, Samuel Redford, and Natalia Thorup. [Salk Institute] The studies showed that in T. brucei infected mice, CD4+ T cells acted first and initiated the process of fat wasting. Afterward, but completely independently of fat wasting, CD8+ T cells initiated the process of muscle wasting. “We find that the wasting response occurs in two phases, with the first stage involving fat wasting caused by CD4+ T cell-induced anorexia and a second anorexia-independent cachectic stage that is dependent on CD8+ T cells,” the investigators wrote. “We demonstrate that CD4+ T cells are drivers of adipose tissue wasting in response to T. brucei infection. We further demonstrate that CD4+ T cells are required for the induction of the sickness-induced anorexic response.” Interestingly, CD4+ T cell-induced fat wasting had no impact on the ability of the mice to fight T. brucei or to survive infection. The CD8+ T cell-induced muscle wasting, however— and contrary to traditional assumptions about wasting – helped the mice fight T. brucei and survive the infection. “Fat wasting has no impact on host antibody-mediated resistance defenses or survival, while later-stage muscle wasting contributes to disease-tolerance defenses,” the team further noted. “Thus, at least in a murine model of T. brucei infection, adipose tissue wasting serves no apparent beneficial function for the host or the pathogen, while cachexia may contribute to host disease-tolerance defenses.” “Our discoveries were so surprising that there were times I wondered if we did something wrong,” said first author Samuel Redford, PhD, a current visiting researcher and former graduate student in Ayres’ lab. “We had striking results that mice with fully functioning immune systems and mice without CD4+ T cells

An uptick in hospital-associated infections (HAI) has triggered questions about whether healthcare institutions in the state of Kerala are becoming a hotbed of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). A report on AMR, released by the state Health Department on 2 August, has set off concerns in this regard. Going by the data from the Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network’s (KARS NET) Annual Report 2023, AMR is increasing in the state. And so is HAI. It is feared that the state has waged a losing battle against drug resistance as it overlooked HAI in its AMR strategy. What is hospital-associated infection (HAI)? According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), HAI is an infection occurring in a patient during the process of care in a hospital or other healthcare facilities that was not present or incubating at the time of admission. As HAI might result in prolonged hospital stays, misuse and overuse of antimicrobials (medicines used to prevent and treat infections) is also high. Increased resistance of micro-organisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites to the antimicrobials could thereby increase the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and even death. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs comprise a range of infections like central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and ventilator-associated pneumonia. Infections may also occur at surgery sites, known as surgical site infections. Also Read: Why is IMA cautioning against use of antibiotics? Reasons for concern Trends of ESBL evidence from KARS NET over four years. (Supplied) As per the KARS NET Annual Report 2023, extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) production as well as carbapenem resistance (CR) has been increasing over the years. It came to this conclusion after analysing the trend over the last four years, from 2018 to 2022. ESBLs are enzymes produced by Enterobacterales, a large order of different types of bacteria (germs) that commonly cause infections both in healthcare settings, and in communities. ESBLs can break down and destroy some commonly used antibiotics, including penicillin and cephalosporin, thereby making such drugs ineffective for treating infections. The most worrying trend is the CR, as carbapenems — considered as last-resort antibiotics — are used for the treatment of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microbes. Trends of Carbapenem resistance–evidence from KARS-NET over four years. (Supplied) The report tracked CR against four groups of bacteria: Acinetobacter (that can cause infections in the blood, urinary tract, and lungs, or wounds in other parts of the body) E. coli (strains that can cause illnesses like urinary tract infections) Klebsiella (causing HAI-like pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis) Pseudomonas (causing infections in the blood, lungs, or other parts of the body after surgery) It also traced the prevalence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA (an infection in which Staphylococcus bacteria that causes a range of diseases including sepsis becomes resistant to Methicillin) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci or VRE (an infection in which Enterococci bacteria becomes resistant to Vancomycin) in the state from 2018 to 2022. Trends of MRSA and VRE–evidence from KARS NET over four years. (Supplied) As per the report, the apparent decrease in MRSA in 2021 may be attributed to the non-uniformity in data from some centres in the initial months of 2021, owing to the subsequent waves of the pandemic in the state and the majority of centres being Covid care centres. VRE rates have also increased over the last three years. However, the report also cited a limitation as the data mostly represents tertiary care centres and it may not be representative of the community. Also Read: Study finds prevalence of antibiotic resistance in rural Karnataka Other findings The KARS-NET report that covers the AMR data from 1 January to 31 December, 2022, was a result of information compiled from 23 surveillance laboratories spread across 11 districts in the state. Data of patients checked for priority pathogens. (Supplied) The data from 27,604 patients were analysed. Of these, 51 percent (13,962) were female patients and 49 percent (13,443) were male patients. Out of the 27,604 isolates, 49 percent (13,523) were in-patients (IPD), 35 percent (9,704) were out-patients (OPD), 13 percent (3,561) were patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), and the remaining (816) of unknown origin. As per the report, the most isolated pathogen from IPDs and OPDs was E. coli, followed by Klebsiella. In IPD patients, it was 37 percent (5,004) and 26 percent (3,477), respectively. While in the case of OPD patients, it was 45 percent (4,360) and 22 percent (2,112). In ICU facilities, Klebsiella was the most isolated pathogen at 31 percent (1,102), followed by E. coli at 29 percent (1,019). Antibiotic resistance profile of Escherichia coli. (Supplied) The highest resistance to Carbapenem was observed in Klebsiella isolated from blood, that is 43 percent, compared to the other specimen types, while CR observed in E. coli isolates from blood was up to 10 percent. The highlight of the KARS-NET Report was for the first-time network sites submitted AMR surveillance data of 41 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi and Paratyphi (bacteria causing enteric fever). It came out with the finding that such bacteria achieved low resistance to first-line antibiotics like ciprofloxacin, ampicillin, and chloramphenicol. Also Read: India bans 14 fixed-dose combination medicines used for cough, infections Healthcare institutions and community’s role Dr Aravind R, Convener of Kerala Antibiotic Resistance Strategic Action Plan’s (KARSAP) working committee, told South First that staff accountability and behavioural change are the prerequisites to fight AMR. “Healthcare institutions, as well as the community, must give due importance to infection prevention and control (IPC),” said Dr Aravind. Location-wise distribution of isolates. (Supplied) Take the case of E. coli. These bacteria can cause disease when they make a toxin called Shiga toxin. But it can be prevented by practicing proper hygiene, especially good handwashing, said Dr Aravind. “Washing fruits and vegetables well under running water, cooking meats thoroughly, avoiding cross-contamination and others are some steps that a common man can take to prevent E. coli,” he added. He stated, “It can’t be presumed that ESBL

DEAR DR. ROACH: My mom had a throat and palate infection that was treated in 2017, and about two weeks later, she had a heart attack. In 2023, she had pneumonia, and was briefly hospitalized and treated, but again about two weeks later, she had another heart attack. We asked her cardiologist if there is a relationship between either the infections themselves or the treatment of infections and heart attacks, but he was not aware of any. This seems too unlikely to be a coincidence. What is your experience on this? — A.C.S. ANSWER: A heart attack happens when the demand for blood from the heart is greater than the ability of the blood vessels can provide. In practice, this almost always means that there are blockages in the blood vessels. However, an increase in the workload of the heart, such as strenuous exercise or an infection (fever tends to increase heart rate, and the blood flow from the heart usually increases with serious infection), can be what leads a person to have a heart attack. It’s possible that this is what happened with your mom. The timing of two weeks after the event is longer than expected, but it’s possible. Whether from chronic infection or inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation in the blood increases the risk of heart disease in the long term, so if there is a connection, and it’s not just coincidental, that would be the most likely cause. DEAR DR. ROACH: You wrote about the dangers of testosterone replacement in men over 70 in your column a few months ago. Could you please describe the dangers of this again? My husband is 73 and injects testosterone every 10 days or so. He’s not feeling too well overall, but he doesn’t know why. He’s been to the cardiologist, but the studies came back fine. He says he feels nerves in his stomach and a bit of shortness of breath. He’s also tired and without much energy. — E.D. ANSWER: There are clear dangers with excess testosterone use, especially in older men. Some men use very high doses of testosterone or other androgens for muscle building, and this can cause heart damage, blood clots and stroke. I strongly do not recommend doing this, but it is generally used illicitly. By contrast, for men in whom testosterone therapy is given appropriately, the dangers are quite small, and in most men, the benefits outweigh the risks. Men should have a clear reason to receive testosterone therapy, such as having low bone density, low libido, loss of body hair, or development of breast tissue, in addition to repeatedly low testosterone levels (including a level taken between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. when testosterone levels are highest). In these men, the goal is to stabilize the testosterone level, and the risks of the catastrophic outcomes listed above appear to be very small, or even zero. Testosterone levels should also be measured during therapy. I can’t speculate on the cause behind your husband’s symptoms. Nonspecific symptoms, such as low energy, can be caused by low testosterone, but unless there are more specific symptoms of low testosterone, I generally do not recommend testosterone replacement. Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual questions, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to [email protected].

Scientists have estimated that the global incidence of Brucella infections is much higher than previously believed. Findings suggest that at least 1.6 to 2.1 million new cases of human brucellosis occur every year. This differs significantly from one of the most cited references, which predicts an incidence of 500,000 new cases yearly. Brucellosis is a bacterial disease that affects livestock and humans. In humans, the disease causes fever, sweats, fatigue, and malaise. People are normally exposed to Brucella by consuming unpasteurized milk products or handling contaminated animal tissues. Most human cases come from regions with highly dense at-risk populations. The number of new human brucellosis cases annually remains unclear despite previous attempts to identify the impact of the disease, according to a study in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Risk by regionResearchers produced estimates using animal and human brucellosis data from the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH) and human population data reported to the World Bank. Data was from 2014 to 2018. They used three statistical models and considered missing information. Disease misdiagnosis and under diagnosis were not considered in the models. Because the team had more complete data for livestock than human disease, at both global and regional levels, they used livestock data as the basis to estimate disease incidence. A total of 144 countries and 3.2 billion people were considered at risk. Models indicated Africa and Asia have most of the global risk and cases, although areas within the Americas and Europe remain of concern. Countries not endemic for the disease record cases resulting from travel and trade of raw milk products across national borders. “Among countries in Africa, inadequate or non-existent public and animal health programs perpetuate the status quo. This uncontrolled disease situation, accompanied by rapid population growth and increased demand for animal products, provides an unfortunate outlook for the future of brucellosis control across this entire region,” said researchers. “Although risk is spread across the entire Asia region, the primary hotspot occurs in the Middle East. This increased risk is likely the result of having close contact with small ruminants and consuming their raw milk products.” French situationMeanwhile, Santé publique France has revealed 40 cases of brucellosis were declared in 2022 in 12 regions. Of these, 38 were imported infections linked mainly to travel to Algeria but also to nations including Turkey, Tunisia, and Djibouti. One person fell sick after consuming a cheese from Lebanon. For the two non-imported cases, one was a former slaughterhouse employee who started work before the elimination of brucellosis in farms. The other patient could not be contacted. The number of cases returned to 2019 levels, in line with the resumption of travel to countries considered endemic, as COVID-19 pandemic restrictions were lifted. In 2020 and 2021, about 20 cases were recorded each year. A total of 34 strains belonged to Brucella melitensis, one to Brucella abortus and another was not characterized. Symptom onset dates for cases reported in 2022 ranged from December 2018 to November 2022. Fifteen cases were female. Patients were aged 5 to 91 with a median of 55 years old, including two children under 16 years old. Two cases were pregnant women. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)