BACKGROUND: Health-care workers (HCWs) can sustain needlestick injuries (NSIs) during patient care activities and are at a greater risk of exposure to blood-borne infectious agents such as HBV, HCV, and HIV, among which only HBV has an effective vaccine. Unfortunately, both the voluntary reporting rates of NSIs and HBV vaccination coverage among HCWs have been generally low. This study aims to analyze the trends of voluntary reporting of NSIs and the HBV vaccination status among the HCWs of our tertiary health care center. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted between January 2016 and July 2018 at a tertiary health care center in Puducherry. A standard pro forma was filled by all HCWs reporting NSIs. HIV, hepatitis B virus surface antigen, and hepatitis C virus were tested using rapid card tests, and anti-hepatitis B surface titers were tested using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay according to the manufacturer's instructions. RESULTS: A total of 83 incidents of NSIs were reported. Nursing staffs reported the maximum number of incidents followed by students. About 42 incidents of NSI were reported in the year 2018 compared to 26 and 15 incidents reported in 2017 and 2016, respectively. Only 37 HCWs had taken the complete course of HBV vaccine. CONCLUSION: This study shows an increase in the voluntary reporting of NSIs by the HCWs, but the HBV vaccination status among them was found to be low.

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common health problem across the globe. Although majority of them are bacterial in origin, there has been an increasing trend in the incidence of UTI due to the yeast like fungi, . UTI due to are in large proportion noscomially acquired and of growing concern is the development of resistance to the commonly used azole group of drugs for their treatment. Since the resistance is more commonly reported among non- albicans , routine species identification and antifungal susceptibility testing is crucial for successful clinical outcomes. This study was conducted to analyse the distribution and risk factors associated with Urinary candidiasis and also to determine the resistance patterns of different to various antifungal agents using phenotypic methods. : A hospital based observational study was conducted from September 2016 to December 2017 on patients presenting with symptomatic UTI. isolates were speciated using phenotypic methods like germ tube test and growth character on chromagar . Antifungal susceptibility to fluconazole, voriconazole, ketoconazole and amphotericin B were determined using disc diffusion method. All data were anlyzed using EpiData Analysis software version 2.2.2.186. A total of 101 were isolated. The incidence of Urinary candidiasis was more among females (66.4%) than in males (33.6%). People above 50 years (38.6%) were commonly affected followed by people in the age group of 21-30 years (22.7%). The incidence among hospitalized patients was 86.7% and urinary catheterization (43.5%) was the most commonly associated risk factor. The most common isolates were tropicalis (31.6%) followed by albicans (21.7%). The overall resistance patterns among various were 50.5%, 32.7%, 19.9% and 2% for fluconazole, ketoconazole, voriconazole and amphotericin B respectively. Hospitalization and urinary catheterization are the important risk factors for developing urinary candidiasis. The antifungal susceptibility varies among different and hence, identification of to species level along with antifungal susceptibility testing should be practiced as a routine in all clinical mycology laboratories.

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