Introduction: Coagulase Negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are common opportunistic pathogens. They are increasingly being recognised as nosocomial pathogens and are associated with multiple antimicrobial resistance mechanisms particularly methicillin resistance. Therefore, rapid and reliable identification upto the species level is necessary to predict the potential pathogenicity or antibiotic susceptibility of each clinical isolate. Aim: Isolation and speciation of CoNS from various clinical samples, and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. Materials and Methods: This study was a hospital-based crosssectional study carried out in the Department of Microbiology, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal, Manipur, India, during the period from September 2017- August 2019. CoNS isolates were identified using conventional microbiological procedures and speciation was done following the scheme of Kloos and Schleifer. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by using the Kirby Bauer’s disk diffusion method. Detection of methicillin resistance among CoNS was performed using cefoxitin disk (30 µg) diffusion method. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics. Results: CoNS isolates were identified from different clinical specimens, which included 88 (65.2%) from urine, 37 (27.5%) from blood, 3 (2.2%) from pus, 2 (1.5%) from catheter tip, 2 (1.5%) from wound swab, 1 (0.7%) each from aural swab, sputum and ascitic fluid. Predominant isolates were Staphylococcus epidermidis (40.7%) followed by Staphylococcus haemolyticus (19.3%), Staphylococcus hominis (11.9%), Staphylococcus xylosus (7.4%), Staphylococcus saprophyticus (6.0%), Staphylococcus schleiferi (5.2%), Staphylococcus simulans (4.4%), Staphylococcus warneri (3.0%), Staphylococcus lugdunensis (0.7%), Staphylococcus capitis (0.7%) and Staphylococcus cohnii (0.7%). Most isolates were resistant to penicillin (84.5%) and erythromycin (59.3%), and least to tigecycline (2.2%). No resistance to vancomycin and linezolid was seen. Methicillin sensitive CoNS (MSCoNS) was detected in 79 (58.5%) isolates and methicillin resistant CoNS (MRCoNS) in 56 (41.5%) isolates. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the occurrence of various species of CoNS in our healthcare set up with varying antimicrobial susceptibility pattern. Therefore, there is a need for accurate identification to species level by simple, inexpensive methodology and their antibiogram.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B infection is a major global health problem. The seroprevalence of Hepatitis B virus infection among general population attending at a tertiary care hospital is useful in assessing the magnitude of HBV infection and helps in devising preventive measures. The co-infection of Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C virus with HIV accelerates disease progression and may complicate the management of patients infected with HIV. This study was designed to determine hepatitis B virus infection among patients attending tertiary care centre in NorthEast India. MATERIALS & METHODS A total of 11399 serum samples, collected from patients attending outpatient or inpatient departments and ART centre, were screened for HBsAg using 3 rd generation ELISA (Qualisa HBsAg, Qualpro Diagnostics, Goa, India) in this retrospective study. RESULTS Seroprevalence of HBsAg was 1.23%. Seropositivity was seen more in males (2.2%) as compared to females (0.89%). Among males, highest occurrence was found in the age group of 21-30 (3.29%) years followed by 31-40 (2.94%) years and 41-50 (2.37%) years. Among females, highest prevalence was observed in age group of 51-60 (1.39%) years followed by 61-70 (1.15%) years and 41-50 (1.13%) years. CONCLUSION Present study showed that the overall rate of HBsAg positivity in our center was 1.23%. Males and younger age group were found to be more affected probably due to horizontal transmission.