No abstract

Food handlers often act as an important vehicle for the transmission of microorganisms responsible for causing foodborne illness, which pose as a major public health problem of global concern. Poor hygiene while preparation of food is a major source of illness caused by pathogenic microbes. This study was done for a period of 2 months after approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee. The study population included food handlers working in canteens of various hospitals in Solapur. Swabs from hands, nose and fingernail specimens were collected and inoculated on bacteriological culture media and identification was done using standard protocols. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire to evaluate the socio-demographic status and self-hygiene practices followed by the food handlers. Data were analyzed using an appropriate statistical test. All the people involved in food handling including the cook, server and cleaner were included after a written informed consent. The sample size was 45 food handlers. From the 45 food handlers which were included in the study there were 20 cooks (44.44%), 14 servers (31.11%) and 11 cleaners (24.45%) Out of these 45 food handlers 22(49% ) were males and 23(51%) were females. Knowledge about basic health education was seen in 73.33% of the subjects, while only 18% were sensitized to hand washing, 22.22% had annual health examination, 35.5% wore finger ornaments. Of 45 food handlers 69% had trimmed fingernails, 73.3% washed their hands regularly. However, no association was found between these factors and hand contamination. This may be because none of the food handlers used soap or hand sanitizer to clean their hands. They used plain water to wash their hands. Food handlers act as an important source in the transmission of foodborne illnesses therefore it is necessary to sensitize and create awareness amongst them about the importance of hand hygiene.

Background: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) has sparked the deterioration of human health at an unprecedented scale globally and affected the patient’s musculoskeletal health also. It is conceivable that active rheumatoid arthritis (ARA) patients recovered from COVID-19 after second wave are at enhanced risk of cardiovascular complications. Aim and Objectives: In this context, the present study was intended to estimate the soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), serum paraoxonase (PON), and markers of oxi-inflammatory stress in ARA patients diagnosed reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction negative after second wave of COVID-19 and to determine their role in predicting cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Materials and Methods: Sixty ARA patients (30–45 years) of Delhi-NCR region were recruited and categorized into two groups (n=30 in each group; on the basis of their history of COVID infection). Using standard methods, study group parameters were estimated in ARA patients and statistically compared it with that of 30 healthy controls by using student’s t-test. Results: Serum sVCAM-1, malondialdehyde (MDA), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were significantly high (P<0.001) in Group II and Group III subjects as compared to healthy controls. Conversely, serum PON activity was found to be significantly low (P<0.001) in Group III as compared healthy controls. However, PON activity was altered insignificantly (P<0.1) with respect to Group II subjects. sVCAM-1 levels were positively correlated with MDA, CRP, and atherogenic index; and negatively correlated with PON activity (P<0.001) in post-COVID ARA patients. Conclusion: Thus, enhanced sVCAM-1 and reduced PON activity along with enhanced oxi-inflammatory stress status are more efficient molecular signatures of CVD risk among post-COVID ARA patients. Therefore, the present study emphasizes the dire need of special attention to provide cardiovascular rehabilitation strategy among post-COVID ARA patients along with reduction of oxi-inflammatory stress to reduce the CVD mortality in ARA population.