Background: Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera is known to cause outbreaks. It is crucial to identify these outbreaks and prevent transmission. Cases of acute diarrhea should be recognized promptly in order to prevent fatal outcome, with rationale use of antibiotics. This study was done to evaluate the burden of cholera cases and to determine their antibiotic sensitivity pattern. Materials and methods:This was a retrospective study conducted in the Department of Microbiology in a tertiary care hospital in North India. The stool samples received in the laboratory were processed by standard microbiological techniques for identification of V. cholerae. Serological confirmation was done and antibiotic sensitivity pattern was detected by Kirby Bauer's disk diffusion method. Results: V. cholerae was isolated in 28 out of 1567 samples. Serotyping confirmed 68% of the cases belonging to V. cholerae 01 and 32% were V. cholerae 0139 serotype. The organism showed sensitivity to tetracycline, gentamycin, Amikacin and Norfloxacin. Resistant drugs included ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole. Monsoon season showed an increased prevalence of cases. Conclusions: Our study revealed an increase in number of cases during the monsoon season, implying lack of sanitary conditions. V. cholerae 01 Ogawa serotype was the predominant strain. Rehydration therapy is the gold standard in the treatment of cholera, and cautious use of antibiotics should be encouraged, with emerging resistance seen for ampicillin and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole.

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Background: Fungal infections are an emerging group of infections particularly affecting immunocompromised individuals and those with indwelling medical devices. Spectrum of fungal pathogens is wide which include yeasts like Candida and Cryptococcus and filamentous fungi like Aspergillus and Zygomycetes. Materials and methods: A retrospective study was conducted over a period of five years in the department of Microbiology in a tertiary care hospital in North India. Various clinical samples were collected from the patients presenting with clinically suspected fungal infections. Direct microscopy with potassium hydroxide (KOH) was done to visualize the presence of fungal elements and Gram staining was done for any suspected yeast infection. Fungal cultures of all samples were inoculated on Sabourauds dextrose agar (SDA). Results: A total of 5724 clinical samples with suspected fungal etiology were received in the Microbiology laboratory during the study period. From a total of 689 isolates which came positive, Candida sp. was the most common isolate accounting for 520 (75.4 %), followed by Aspergillus species 110 (15.9 %), Mucor species 34 (4.9 %), Cryptococcus species 9 (1.3 %), Penicillium species 8 (1.2 %), Dermatophytes 4 (0.6 %), Fusarium sp. 3 (0.4%) and Acremonium sp. 1 (0.1%). Conclusions: Fungal infections share a good amount in the burden of increased morbidity and mortality in the diseased. Regular surveillance studies are important to determine the prevalence of different fungal infections in various centers.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVEDoripenem is a new parenteral carbapenems, which has beta-lactamase stability and is not inactivated by renal dehydropeptidases. Doripenem has a spectrum of activity similar to imipenem and ertapenem against Gram-positive cocci and similar to meropenem against Gram-negative pathogens. In this study, we summarize the activity of doripenem against Gram negative bacilli in comparison with other carbapenems (Imipenem, meropenem) and select group of antimicrobial drugs by disk diffusion.