a b s t r a c tBackground: Compliance and implementation of infection control guidelines have been recognized as efficient means to prevent and control hospital acquired infections. Objectives: To evaluate knowledge and practices about infection control guidelines amongst medical students and to explore their education needs as perceived by them and faculty. Methods: A total of 160 final year students and 100 faculty members of one of the top medical colleges in India were selected by simple random sampling in each group as per sample size of 143 students (alpha 0.05, error 7%, prevalence 60%) and 99 (error 7.5%) faculty. Data collected by pilot-tested, unlinked, anonymous questionnaire. Results: Amongst students, knowledge (77.50%; 95% CI, 70.24e83.72) was mixed with misconceptions. Only 31.25% always followed hand hygiene procedure; 50% recapped needles; disposal of hazardous material into designated containers always was low (sharps 20%, contaminated items 25%). Despite experiencing needle stick injury (6.25%) and splashes (40%), less than 30% reported these as 44% were unaware of reporting procedure. The discord between the perceptions of faculty regarding students and students' own perceptions was clearly evident (all Kappa values less than 0.50). Students and faculty agreed on workshops (58.13% and 58%) and reinforcement by colleagues (51% and 54%) but not on on-job training (51% and 34%) and part of curriculum (48% and 40%) for teachingelearning infection control. Conclusion: Tackling disconnect between students and faculty perceptions and empowering students with knowledge and skills in infection control is important. Approach needs to be researched and formulated as current methods seem to be inadequate. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: w ww.el sevier.com/locate/mjafi m e d i c a l j o u r n a l a r m e d f o r c e s i n d i a 6 9 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 1 0 7 e1 1 2

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Background: Melioidosis is an infection with gram negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei and is an important public health problem causing community acquired sepsis in South East Asia and north Australia. The calculated annual incidence of melioidosis in Malaysia varies from around 6.0 per 100,000 per year to 16.35 per 100,000 population per year for adult population depending on region.Methods: From October 2007 to January 2012, 416 patients were positive for melioidosis based on serology and 46 patients had microbiologically documented melioidosis. We undertook retrospective analysis of 46 cases with culture confirmed cases.Results: The mean age of patient was 36 years old, with predominantly male (60.9%) and Iban ethnic group involvement (41.3%). Majority of patients were involved in farming, forestry and fishing (52.2%), followed by children and teenagers who were involved up to 17.4%. Majority did not have medical co morbidity (63.0%) unlike other reports where diabetes mellitus is one of the recognized risk factor. Almost half of the patients (47.8%) were admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to respiratory failure or septic shock. Pneumonia was the commonest presentation (69.9%) and accounted for 95.5% ICU admissions. Most patients received ceftazidime (52.2%), followed by meropenem (32.6%) and imipenem (2.2%). Only 13% did not received suggested antimicrobial treatment due to low suspicion. The overall mortality rate was 47.8%, but the rate was as high as 60.6% in pulmonary involvement. Based on in vitro sensitivity testing using disc diffusion method, 42.5% clinical isolates were resistant to meropenem. In vivo, we observed that 45.5% of patients whom received meropenem died.Conclusion: Majority of our patients were younger, with more than half having no medical co morbidity. Patients mainly presented with lung involvement and bacteraemic. Pulmonary involvement carried a higher mortality rate despite appropriate treatment. In vitro resistance towards meropenem needs to be confirmed by minimum inhibitory method as it has colossal impact towards current clinical practice.