The microbiological assessment of the air in operating theatres is critical to control hospital-acquired infections. Regular surveillance is an important tool to evaluate the quality of air and find areas requiring intervention. In this context, the present study is undertaken to assess and compare the microbial contamination levels in operation theatre by active and passive methods. All the environmental surfaces and equipment of OTs and ICU at tertiary care hospital in Vijayapur, included in the study. This study used three sampling procedures: active, passive methods for air sampling, and swabing method for surfaces and equipment. Out of 15 OTs air sampling, the passive method showed more bacterial air contamination than the active method. Statistically, a significant difference was observed with the passive method compared to the active method with p-value of 0.0336 for both bacteria and fungus growth assessment. Out of total 90 swabs collected from all the OTs surfaces and instruments, Pseudomonas species (40%), Bacillus species (40%), Klebsiella species (20%) were the common species isolated. From the 50 swabs collected from in ICUs surfaces and instruments, culture positivity was 16% for pathogenic bacteria; Pseudomonas aeruginosa (62%), Klebsiella pneumonia (25%), and Escherichia coli (13%). The present study showed that the passive method is a better monitoring tool than the active method. So we recommend using passive air sampling method compared to active method, which is easy, cheap, and no instrument is needed for sampling the air.

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an on-going pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Majority of people infected with this virus will suffer from mild to moderate respiratory disease and recover without therapy, whereas the elderly and, as well as those who have underlying comorbidities are more prone to have severe infection. Several inflammatory indicators, like procalcitonin (PCT), serum ferritin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), linked to the increased the risk of development of severe COVID-19 disease. Objective: The goal of this research was to see if there was a link between inflammatory markers and the severity of COVID-19 disease, as well as the sociodemographic characteristics that influence COVID-19-positive findings. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional at Shri B.M. Patil Medical College, Research Center and Karigoudar Diagnostic Laboratory Vijayapur for a period of 2 months from October to November 2020. This study included 600 COVID-19-positive patients confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Investigations included (RT-PCR) and inflammatory markers. The details collected were sociodemographic data and clinical history. Investigations included RT-PCR using throat swab/nasopharyngeal swab and inflammatory markers like CRP, D-Dimer levels, ferritin, IL-6, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), PCT were performed accordingly. Data were analyzed using the SPSS version 18.0. Results were presented as percentages and mean ± standard deviation. The categorical variables were analyzed using the Chi-square test. Results: The mean age of the patients was 43.7 ± 16.7 years with male preponderance. The majority of the patients were between the ages of 21 and 60 (76.7%) years. Increasing age was significantly associated with severity of the disease, similarly CRP levels, D-dimer, ferritin, and LDH levels were significantly higher among those with increasing age and severe disease, i.e., severe acute respiratory infection (P < 0.05). Conclusion: There was a link between age and inflammatory indicators such as CRP, D dimer, ferritin, and LDH levels, as well as the severity of disease. Hence, measuring these inflammatory markers could help clinicians track and assess the severity and prognosis of COVID-19.

Objective: Tuberculosis is an airborne infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Timely diagnosis and treatment are important to prevent the spread of infection. Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT) provides a valuable tool in the early detection of TB. This study is undertaken to evaluate the utility of CBNAAT for the detection of MTB. Comparison of cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification testing with ZN staining. Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology, BLDEDU’s Shri B. M. Patil Medical College, Hospital and RC and Dr. Karigoudar Diagnostic Laboratory, Vijayapur. A total of 129 samples from patients with the presumptive diagnosis of TB based on history, clinical presentation, and radiological findings were included in the study. All samples were subjected to ZN staining, and Cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test and data were analyzed. Results: The present study showed ZN smear positivity of 7.75% and CBNAAT positivity of 19.38%. CBNAAT sensitivity and specificity were 90% and 86.55, respectively, compared with ZN staining with a significant P value of <0.001. Conclusion: CBNAAT helps diagnose TB and detect rifampicin resistance within 2-3 h with high sensitivity and specificity. Rifampicin resistance detection is of great concern, which otherwise leads to treatment failure and on time spread of multidrug resistance TB, leading to increased morbidity and mortality.

The antibiogram gives the periodic summary of antimicrobial susceptibilities of local bacterial isolates submitted to the hospitals microbiology laboratory. Antibiogram can be of great use in assessing the local susceptibility rates and can serve as a tool in designing the empirical antibiotic therapy and also in monitoring the resistance trends over time within in an institution. Pus samples from various clinical conditions like abscess, cellulitis, necrotizing fasciitis, wound infections; diabetic foot ulcers were included in the study. A total of 1124 positive cultures were obtained out of which 736 yielded various Gram negative organisms and 488 were Gram positive organisms. Only Gram negative organisms were considered in the study as gram negative organisms are common etiological agents of skin and soft tissue infections and pose a great challenge to the treating physician as they are known to develop a high antimicrobial resistance. The organisms isolated in our hospital were Pseudomonas aeruginosa (192), Klebsiella pneumonia (173), Escherichia coli (168), Citrobacter species (117), Acinetobacter species (47), and Proteus species (39). In our study which aims at formulating an empirical therapy for Gram negative organisms the drugs with highest sensitivity were Imipenem (51%), Amikacin (43%), Meropenem (38%), Tobramycin (36%), and Ciprofloxacin (34%) Gentamicin (34%), Netimicin (33%), Cotrimoxazole (32%), Piperacillin (28%),Tetracycline (28%), Ceftazidime (28%), Levofloxacin (26%), Ceftriaxone (26%), Colistin (22%), Carbenecillin (21%), Cefoperazone (21%), Cefoperazone +Sulbactum (21%), Azonetrem (21%), Cefipime (20%), Cefuroxime (17%), Cephaxlein (15%), Ampicillin (12%), Amoxyclav (10%). With the knowledge of most commonly isolated organisms causing SSTIs and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns the clinicians can start the most likely antibiotic and can change accordingly once the sensitivity report is available.