This study aimed to explore knowledge, attitude, perceptions, and willingness regarding vaccination among university students in Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was carried out using an open online self-administered survey via Google Forms. The survey data were collected between the 15 to 30 of October 2022. A total of 946 respondents participated in the study, of which the majority were female (514, 54.3%). Most students belonged to a medical background, specifically pharmaceutical sciences. Most of the respondents did not know about monkeypox before 2022 (646, 68.3%). Regarding overall knowledge of monkeypox, most of the respondents had average knowledge (726, 76.7%), with very few having good knowledge (60, 6.3%). Regarding overall attitudes towards monkeypox, most of the respondents had neutral attitudes (648, 68.5%). There was a significant association between knowledge of Monkeypox with the type of academic degree (p < 0.001), type of discipline (p < 0.001), and region of respondents (p < 0.001). The willingness to vaccinate among the population was (67.7%). The current study pointed out that the overall knowledge of monkeypox was average in most respondents, with considerable knowledge gaps in most aspects. The overall attitude towards monkeypox was neutral. Further, the knowledge about monkeypox was strongly associated with academic degree, study discipline, and region of respondents. Our findings emphasize the need to raise public awareness by educating students on the monkeypox virus. This will improve adherence to preventative recommendations.

Aim:To analyse the clinicopathological features of neonatal mucormycosisMaterials and Methods:Retrospective analysis of cases of neonatal gastrointestinal mucormycosis.Results:There were six neonates with male: female ratio of 1:1. Except one all were preterm babies. The clinical presentation was abdominal distension in the majority. All were clinically diagnosed as either NEC or toxic megacolon with perforation. Neonatal gastrointestinal mucormycosis was not suspected clinically in any. All the children were explored immediately. Biopsy revealed transmural hemorrhagic necrosis/infarction of the intestinal wall with fungal hyphae.Conclusions:The physicians should have a high index of suspicion for gastrointestinal tract mucormycosis in neonates with metabolic disturbances who present with abdominal distension and pneumoperitoneum. Early diagnosis and aggressive medical and surgical treatment may improve the outcome of neonates with this potentially lethal invasive disease.

Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a global crisis. Inadequate knowledge, inapt attitude, and malpractice may enhance the risk of disease. Therefore, we aimed to explore the knowledge and behaviors of the people towards COVID-19 in Sindh, Pakistan, that can further help the government to enforce the SOPs for better containment strategy. A cross sectional study was conducted in Sindh, Pakistan during the month of December, 2020 using convenience sampling method. A pre-designed and pre-validated online survey consisting of 30 questions on knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) regarding COVID-19 was used for data collection. Among 1004 respondents, accuracy of knowledge response ranged from 20.7% to 95.2% and average rate was 62.2%. For attitude, the percentage of positive responses ranged from 16.9% to 49.5% and average value was 34.88%. The range for good practice was 15.0% to 91.4% and the average was 67.4%. The statistical analysis results showed the significant differences between the responses of each participant for knowledge, attitude, and practices towards COVID-19 (P = 0.001). Our study concluded that majority of people of Sindh, Pakistan have good knowledge, average attitude, and proactive practices regarding COVID-19 but still there is a need for implementing strategies for enhancing knowledge and practices.

Objective: COVID-19 has affected millions of people throughout the world and due to the high rate of its spread, it is very vital to protect the people who are at the frontlines of COVID-19 positive cases. In this study, we have analyzed the level of awareness among the Healthcare Workers (HCWs) and level of preparedness by the Healthcare Authorities (HCA) for the safety of HCWs. Study Design: Cross-sectional prospective study. Subjects and Methods: Study was conducted online, for 3 months, from July to September 2020, at various Health Care Facilities (HCF) of Sindh, Pakistan. The survey instrument was circulated among the HCWs and a total of 419 filled forms were received and analyzed using SPSS 24. Results: Out of 419 participants, 54.4% were male and 45.6% female. Half of the respondents were doctors (50.1%) with majority having 1-5 years (61.6%) of experience. It was found that the major sources of information of HCWs about COVID-19 was social media (80.4%) and only 18.6% of HCWs had trainings to deal with pandemics. HCA couldn’t manage to maintain adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) as goggle/eye shields were available only to 20.5% HCWs, shoe covers to 24.3%, N95 masks to 28.5%. Conclusion: We identified serious concern in the source of information but despite that the knowledge and awareness level was quite acceptable among our study respondents. However, greater efforts to be taken for training campaigns for HCWs as well as supply of PPE.