BACKGROUND:Blood transfusion is a very crucial component to manage patients suffering from various medical conditions. Voluntary blood donors are the need of the hour. There is a need to spread awareness among general population and students about blood donation to maintain a regular blood supply. Young medical students can serve as best example to take a lead in this noble cause. OBJECTIVE: To assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of Blood Donation among 1 st and 2 nd year MBBS students of a Medical College. MATERIAL AND METHODS:The cross sectional study was conducted in a medical college in Kollam district of Kerala in September 2013 among all 1 st and 2 nd year medical students. A separate Health awareness session was organized. Data was collected and analyzed with the Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 12. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS: Not a single participant answered all knowledge questions correctly. Only 35% had adequate knowledge. The gender has no significant association with knowledge about blood donation. 90% of the respondents had a positive attitude about blood donation. Religion only plays a minor role in their decision to donate blood. Only 10% actually donated blood. 57% students gave blood to a needy relative. The most common reason for not donating blood was having no opportunity. There is a significant association between 2 nd year students and blood donation. After awareness session, the overall willingness to donate blood increased from 89.3% to 97.1%. CONCLUSION: Only one third of students have adequate knowledge level regarding blood donation. Only few among them have donated blood. Majority of them intend to donate blood in future. Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities should be increased and regular seminars and classes should be conducted to increase awareness among medical students for encouraging them to donate blood voluntarily.

Pattern of mobile phone use and self-reported health problems related to over use of the mobile phones are assessed among the medical students of Travancore Medical College, Kollam. MATERIALS AND METHODSStudy design: Cross-sectional study. Sample size: 200 students; Sampling technique: Convenient sampling; Data analysis: Data was entered in MS Excel and analysed by SPSS 20. RESULTSA total of 200 students and interns participated in the study and among them 78 were males and 122 were females; 33% of the participants were very frequent users of cell phone (>2 hours in a day); 77% of students are using smart phones and 23% using simple phones; 39.5% of students spending 100-300 Rs per month to recharge and 34.5% spending 300-500 Rs for the same. More than half of the study population (57%) check their mobile phones every half an hour. Almost 45% students reported to have earache; headache and blurring of vision are some of the other symptoms reported by them. There is a significant association between the above mentioned health symptoms and frequent use of multimedia in mobile phones. Ringxiety is also significantly associated with frequent use of mobile phones. CONCLUSIONThere is substantial clue that there is overuse of mobile phones among medical students. Actions must be taken proactively to cut down and limit the mobile phone use.

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Introduction: Dengue epidemics are a serious public health problem across the world. The recent outbreak of dengue in Kerala has shown different clinical patterns and high morbidity. This study focuses on the clinical features, laboratory investigations and outcome of dengue patients admitted in a tertiary care centre of south Kerala. Materials & Methods: It was a cross sectional study done on the dengue cases done on 190 cases which were admitted in our hospital during the outbreak (July to august 2017). Results: Out of the 190 patients, majority of the population were males 105(55.3%) compared to females 85(44.7%). 172(90.5%) were positive for NS1 antigen card test during admission. IgM assay was positive for 129(67.9%), 47 (24.7%) cases were referred from outside. Majority had platelet count of one lakh to 500000 62(32.6%) during admission. 116(61.1%) had altered liver function and 26(13.7%) had altered renal function. 32(16.8%) received platelet transfusion. There was a mortality rate of 14 (7.3%). There were 2 deaths reported due to subdural hematoma which was unlikely with dengue. Conclusion: Dengue infection is increasing due to rapid urbanization and unplanned townships followed by waste disposal. Fever associated with headache, retro orbital pain, erythematous rash, conjunctival congestion and itching in palms and soles along with thrombocytopenia, Leucopenia, elevated liver transaminases should prompt a clinician on the possibility of dengue infection. Early diagnosis and prompt management can save many lives during an outbreak.

Introduction:Factors associated with tuberculosis (TB) in Kerala, the southern Indian state that notifies approximately 33 microbiologically confirmed new cases per 100,000 population every year for the past two decades, are still unclear. We did a community-based case–control study in Kollam district, Kerala, to identify the individual-level risk factors for TB.Methods:Structured questionnaire was applied to 101 microbiologically confirmed new TB cases registered under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program and 202 age- and gender-matched neighborhood controls without present or past TB. Information was sought on socioeconomic status (SES), smoking, consumption of alcohol, close contact with active TB during childhood or recent past, diabetes mellitus (DM), and other comorbid conditions.Results:Close contact with TB during childhood [odds ratio (OR) 15.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) 3.21–78.55], recent close contact with TB (OR 4.81, 95% CI 2.09–11.07), DM (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.04–3.06), SES (OR 2.16, 95% CI 1.16–4.03), smoking more than 10 cigarettes/beedis per day (OR 3.32, 95% CI 1.27–8.96), consuming more than 10 standard drinks per week (OR 2.91, 95% CI 1.33–6.37), and the interaction term of having close contact with TB during childhood and DM at present (OR 7.37, 95% CI 1.18–50.29) were found to be associated with TB.Conclusion:Close contact with a case of TB, presence of DM, lower SES, smoking, and alcohol consumption were associated with active TB in Kollam. Having close contact with a case of TB during childhood and development of DM in later life together are significantly associated with active TB in the study population. The findings also direct further studies to confirm and explore mechanisms of interaction of diabetes with childhood exposure to TB.