Background: The study was performed to identify the important bacterial pathogens responsible for wound infections secondary to snakebite and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility. Methodology: All cases of wound infection secondary to snakebite were included in this retrospective study. Infected tissues were surgically debrided and inoculated on blood agar and MacConkey agar for aerobic bacterial culture, followed by antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the isolates by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. Results: Staphylococcus aureus (32%) was the most common isolate followed by Escherichia coli (15%); monomicrobial infections were more frequent than polymicrobial infections. The majority of the isolates were antibiotic sensitive. Ciprofloxacin, an oral drug covering both Gram-positive and Gram-negative isolates, was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic. The patients responded well to the treatment. Conclusion: The results of this study will be helpful in deciding the empirical antibiotic therapy in cases of wound infection secondary to snakebite in regions of Southeast Asia.

BackgroundDermatophytes are a group of closely related keratinophilic fungi that can invade keratinized humans and animals tissues such as skin, hair and nails causing dermatophytosis. They are an important cause of superficial fungal infection.FindingsConventional methods like potassium hydroxide (KOH) microscopy and fungal culture lacks the ability to make an early and specific diagnosis. In this study we have evaluated nested Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers targeting dermatophyte specific sequence of chitin synthase 1 (CHS1) gene and compared with conventional test. A total of 155 patients clinically suspected with dermatophytosis were included in the study. Of which 105 specimens were skin scrapings and 50 were hair. KOH microscopy, fungal culture and first round and nested PCR were done on clinical specimens, and results compared. Nested PCR for dermatophytes was positive in 83.8% specimens, followed by KOH microscopy (70%), first round PCR (50.8) and fungal culture (25.8).ConclusionResults indicate that nested PCR may be considered as gold standard for the diagnosis of dermatophytosis and can aid the clinician in initiating prompt and appropriate antifungal therapy.

In this study, nested PCR using novel primers targeting the pan-dermatophyte-specific sequence of the chitin synthase 1 gene (CHS1) was compared with KOH microscopy, culture isolation, and single-round PCR for diagnosis of 152 patients with clinically suspected onychomycosis. Results indicate that nested PCR may be considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of cases of onychomycosis for which the etiological agents are dermatophytes.

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