Background: The unprecedented outbreak of a contagious respiratory disease caused by a novel coronavirus has led to a pandemic since December 2019, claiming millions of lives. Aims and Objectives: The present study was undertaken to estimate the various risk factors associated with COVID, to study the common presenting symptoms and prognosis, and to estimate the degree of association between computed tomography (CT) value in reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with mode of disease transmission in north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study comprising of 1462 COVID-positive individuals. It is based on structured questionnaire on demographic, socioeconomic and symptoms, and correlation of clinical pattern with CT value in RT-PCR and further prognosis. Results: Diabetes (6.7%), hypertension (7.5%), and bronchial asthma (8.6%) are the main comorbid conditions. Middle (44.6%) and low socioeconomic status (47.3%) are more susceptible. Male gender (63.5%) is more affected, especially 16–30 years age group (32.4%). Vaccination offers considerable protection from infection. Contact (59.4%) with known case and travel (31%) are main factors that determine disease transmission. Blood group may not play a role in COVID susceptibility. Health careworkers (22.9%) and students (16.2%) are mostly affected. Conclusion: Bronchial asthma, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus are the predominant risk factors associated with COVID. Transmission of the disease is more by virtue of contact with the infected person than by travel.

Introduction: Hospital Acquired Infection (HAI) is defined as infection that is acquired after 48 hours of admission in hospital for a reason other than that infection and the infection was neither present nor incubating at the time of admission. Device Associated Hospital Acquired Infections (DAHAIs) mainly Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI), Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) and Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) pose significant threat to patients associated with prolonged hospital stays, greater healthcare costs and increased mortality. Surveillance of Device Associated Infections (DAI) can reduce the incidence of Nosocomial Infections (NI) by as much as 32% and lead to reduced healthcare costs. Aim: To determine the microbiological profile of device associated HAI and to find the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of the isolated organisms. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital based crosssectional study conducted in the Department of Microbiology, from November 2015 to October 2017. The study was targeted at three common DAHAIs: CAUTI, CLABSI and VAP. Patients admitted to clinical wards with 48 hours of indwelling devices like urinary catheter, central line and with endotracheal intubation developing signs and symptoms of DAI were included in the study. Specimen was collected with all aseptic precautions. Samples were processed by standard bacteriological methods. Isolates obtained were characterised by biochemical methods. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were done by Kirby Bauer discdiffusion method. Total of 425 samples were included in the study of which 152 (35.76%) showed positive growth and in 273 (64.24%) samples culture was sterile. The samples were collected from Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and various wards. The results were expressed in terms of mean, percentage and rate. Results: A CAUTI was the most common 53.28%, followed by VAP 37.51% and then CLABSI 9.21%. Escherichia coli was most commonly isolated organism 38 (23.45%) followed by Staphylococcus aureus 30 (18.51%). In CAUTI Escherichia coli (38.27%) was most commonly isolated and Acinetobacter baumannii (32.25%) was most commonly seen in VAP and in CLABSI Candida spp. (31.57%) was predominantly isolated. Conclusion: This study gave an insight into the incidence and prevalence of DAHAIs and helps in instituting various interventional strategies to prevent these infections.

Context: India faces a huge shortfall in procuring blood and young people are ideal candidates for Voluntary Blood Donation (VBD). Experiential learning is active learning by doing and this study explores its role in influencing the Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviour (KAB) of Medical students towards VBD. Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of experiential learning on VBD behaviour among medical students. Objectives: 1. To assess the changes in the KAB of medical students towards VBD following the intervention. 2. To assess if such changes are retained over a longer period of time (6 months) among the medical students. Settings & Design: Prospective interventional study at NRIIMS, Vizag. Methods and materials: A sample size of 30 was selected by McNemar's formula for sample calculation. The KAB scores were assessed pre and post intervention. As a part of intervention students were subjected to Experiential Learning by motivating their peers (4) for VBD. The KAB scores were reassessed through delayed post-test after 6 months to know the long term effect. Results: The average score increased from 5.6 to 8.2 for knowledge which was found statistically significant (P<0.0001), from 38.23 to 46. 2 for attitude and practice of blood donation increased significantly from 10% to 66.7% (P<0.0001 in McNemar's test). The results were consistent even after 6 months in delayed post-test. Conclusion: Experiential learning was successful, improving knowledge, attitude and behaviour towards VBD among students along with retaining the same in long run.

BACKGROUND: An Indian medical graduate needs to be competent in the diagnosis and management of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients. This is crucial in terms of occupational safety. A participatory learning approach could be a possible way to change behavior and improve HIV risk assessment skills among medical students for better occupational safety and health care. The present study was planned to identify the need, provide different learning experiences for acquiring competency, and compare the effectiveness of participatory learning over traditional in developing HIV risk assessment skills. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An educational interventional (randomized controlled trial) was carried out at GEMS and Hospital. Needs assessment survey was conducted, which identified HIV risk assessment as a key competency. For which the outcome-specific learning objectives were defined, two different learning experiences were employed. A pretest was conducted to assess the baseline knowledge and attitude (n = 92); they were then divided into two equal groups (A and B). “A” group was taught by participatory approach, whereas “B” by traditional techniques followed by posttest and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) to assess their HIV risk assessment skills. Statistical analysis: Paired t-test for assessing knowledge and attitude within the same group and unpaired t-test for assessing skills between the two groups were used in this study. RESULTS: Statistically significant improvement (P < 0.001) in knowledge and attitude scores was noticed that OSCE scores were significantly higher in the intervention group “A” (P < 0.001) as compared to “B” taught by traditional techniques. CONCLUSION: Participatory learning effectively builds upon existing knowledge and attitude to develop better HIV risk assessment skills.