Background: Bacterial bloodstream infections (BSIs) are important causes of morbidity and mortality world-wide. The choice of antimicrobial therapy for bloodstream infections is often empirical and based on the knowledge of local antimicrobial activity profiles of the most common bacteria causing such infections. The objective of the study was to determine the pattern of bacterial isolates from the blood cultures in a teaching hospital and determine their antibiotic resistance and provide guidelines for choosing an effective antibiotic therapy in cases of septicaemia.Methods: The etiological and antimicrobial susceptibility profile of blood cultures over a period of one year at a tertiary care hospital was studied. Blood culture positive isolates were identified by BacT/Alert3D, an automated blood culture system, while as identification of the isolates from these samples and their antimicrobial sensitivity testing was performed with Vitek2 Compact.Results: There were 2231 blood culture samples, of which 565 (25.3%) were identified to be culture positive. Out of 565 positive cultures, 447 (79.1%) showed bacterial growth; Gram positive were 306 (54.2%) and Gram negative were 141 (24.9%). Candida species were isolated from 118 (20.9%) of positive samples. The most frequently identified Gram-positive bacteria were Coagulase-negative staphylococci 208 (67.9%) and the most common Gram-negative isolates were Acinetobacter species 89 (63.1%). The most sensitive drugs for gram-positive isolates were vancomycin, and linezolid while as gram-negative isolates showed 100% sensitivity to colistin and tigecycline.Conclusions: This study reveals a significant prevalence of bacterial isolates in blood and it highlights the need for periodic surveillance of etiologic agent and antibiotic susceptibility to prevent further emergence and spread of resistant bacterial pathogens.

Background: Non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli (NFGNB) are emerging as important causes of blood stream infections (BSI) and they are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. High intrinsic resistance of NFGNB to antimicrobial compounds makes the treatment of BSIs caused by them difficult and expensive. The aim of this study was to assess frequency and antibiotic susceptibility pattern of non-fermenting gram-negative rods isolated from blood culture of patients. Methods: A total of 3016 blood samples were received in the Department of Microbiology during the study period. All samples were processed according to standard microbiological procedures. Blood culture was done by automated blood culture system, (BacT/Alert) and identification and antibiotic susceptibility of non-fermenting gram negative bacilli was done by VITEK2 Compact System. Results: A total of 120 NFGNB were identified out of which the most common non-fermenters isolated were Acinetobacter sp. (95) followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11), Burkholderia cepacia (09) Sternotrophomonas maltophilia (03) and Sphingomonas sp. (02). Most of the non -fermenters were multi drug resistant showing a high level of antibiotic resistance to most of the first-and second-line drugs. The most effective drugs were colistin and tigecycline. Conclusions: This study underlines the need to identify NFGNB in tertiary care hospitals and to monitor their susceptibility pattern to guide the clinician for better care and management of patients. Improved antibiotic stewardship and strict infection control measures especially hand washing need to be implemented to prevent emergence and spread of multidrug resistant NFGNB in health care settings.

Intestinal parasitic infections represent a grave public health problem especially in developing nations like India, leading to malnutrition, growth retardation, anaemia’s and vitamin deficiencies in early childhood. As such the burden of these intestinal parasitic infections in the society needs to be focussed at the right time which will in turn lead to enhanced health and improved economic conditions of the country. To find out the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections in a tertiary care hospital in Kashmir. A retrospective study was carried out in the Parasitology division in the department of Microbiology of Government Medical College, Srinagar for a period of five years. Routine stool examination was studied to detect the parasitic infections among the patients attending various outpatient departments of our hospital. A total of 2159 stool samples were examined in five years out of which 165 (7.6%) revealed the presence of parasites. The most common parasite identified was (71.9%) followed by Giardia lamblia (16.4%).Intestinal infection due to was the most common parasite identified in our study. The prevalence of these infections can still be higher as these parasites are excreted intermittently in stool samples. As such taking repeat samples from same patients suffering from intestinal parasitic infection is important followed by concentration methods, which together will help and enhance better retrieval of intestinal parasites reflecting the total burden of these infections in our community.

With the surge of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) strains there is an escalating need for precise and cost-effective methods for a precipitous diagnostic and drug susceptibility testing (DST), chiefly in resource limited countries where tuberculosis is endemic. Aim : To find out the susceptibility pattern of Isoniazid (INH) and Rifampicin (RMP) in smear positive cases of pulmonary TB at MMIMSR Mullana and to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of nitrate reductase assay (NRA) with standard proportion method for INH and RMP susceptibility testing. Material and Methods: A cross sectional test validation study was carried out at Mycobacteriology division in the Department of Microbiology on 100 smear positive sputum samples from pulmonary tuberculosis patients.