Browsing by Author "Charu Singh"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

A retrospective analysis of sexually transmitted infections among males presenting to a tertiary care hospital of India
(Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2022) Sunil Sethi; Nandita Sharma; Charu Singh; Hemant Chaudhry; Rajneesh Dadwal; Sakshi Malhotra; Vanita Gupta
Context: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are one of the most neglected diseases, leading to a high percentage of morbidity and mortality in India. The World Health Organization estimated that 20% of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are in their 20s and one out of twenty adolescents contract an STI each year. Aims: The present study was conducted to study the characteristics of the pattern of STI in adult males and study the prevalence of various STIs among them. Settings and Design: This retrospective study was conducted by retrieving records of males presenting to STI laboratory of our tertiary care hospital between (April 2018 and December 2019). Subjects and Methods: The patients comprised high-risk group males, approached through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and slum population visiting the dispensary attached to our institute. The age group of the patient included was between 0 and 85 years. Results: A total of 1023 males presented to our STI laboratory out of which 124 (12.12%) were symptomatic. The most common complaint was urethral irritation seen in 22.5%, followed by discharge in 9.6%. The most common sexually transmitted disease among symptomatic (34/124) as well as asymptomatic (172/899) men was syphilis showing a combined prevalence of 20% (206/1023). Out of 124 symptomatic patients, 29 (23.38%) complained of urethritis due to gonococcal infection. The association between the two was found to be significant (i.e., P < 0.05). Conclusion: STIs are a serious health problem in our country. Approximately 6% of the adult population have one or the other STI amounting to 30-35 million cases per year. An intensive study is the need of the hour which could help clinicians as well as microbiologists to control the spread of these infections. © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.
Anaerobic infections in patients admitted in various surgical units of a tertiary care hospital of north india: Neglected but important
(Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2021) Charu Singh; Anshul Sood; Kiran Bala; Cherring Tandup; Pallab Ray; Archana Angrup
Background and Objectives: Anaerobic infections are usually caused by the host’s endogenous flora due to a breach in the anatomical barriers and Bacteroides spp. are the most notorious organisms associated with anaerobic infections. The identification of anaerobes has been a challenge since times. MALDI-TOF-MS is a boon for aiding the rapid detection of anaerobic organisms and has helped us to enlist the distribution of various anaerobic pathogens. Materials and Methods: This retrospective analysis (January 2018 to December 2019) was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in North India, in which the anaerobic microbiological profile of all patients admitted to surgical wards, ICU, and OPD of various departments (Orthopedics, Surgery, Gynecology, and Obstetrics) was reviewed. Samples received were immediately processed aerobically (5% sheep blood agar and Mac Conkeyagar) as well as anaerobically (RCM and freshly prepared sheep blood agar) as per the laboratory protocols. Results: Bacteroides fragilis (19.12%) was the most common anaerobe whereas among aerobes Escherichia coli (30.2%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (10.34%) were most commonly isolated. The majority of patients were males (56%) and the most common presentation was with abscesses (21.4%). Polymicrobial infections (69.51%) outnumbered monomicrobial ones (30.48%). Conclusion: There is a paucity of literature on anaerobe isolation from surgical infections from our country which motivated us to study anaerobic infections and the high sample size in our institute enabled us to study surgical infections from an anaerobic perspective. This will add to the knowledge of microbiologists and clinicians. MALDI-TOF MS helped in rapid and accurate identification and hence we could report a wider spectrum of organisms in our study. © 2021 The Authors. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Colistin
(Elsevier, 2022) Lipika Singhal; Charu Singh; Vikas Gautam
Infections caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) Gram-negative bacteria have increased worldwide due to rampant use of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Besides MDR, at present, extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and pan-drug-resistant (PDR) strains of various Gram-negative organisms harboring various resistance mechanisms are encountered, posing significant challenges to microbiologists and clinicians. Paucity of development of new antibiotics have led researchers to revive older antibiotics, one of them being the polymyxins as a last resort to combat MDR-GNBs. Polymyxin B and polymyxin E(colistin) are available as approved medical formulations. Polymyxins act against Gram-negative bacteria such as Acinetobacter species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella species, and Enterobacter species. Colistin (polymyxin E) was recognized in 1950 and is available in two forms for human use i.e. colistin sulfate (CS) and colistin methanesulfonate (CMS). Lipid A component of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS), is the primary target of colistin. It is administered by i.v., route, as an aerosolized formulation, and by the intraventricular route. EUCAST and CLSI have advised broth microdilution method (BMD) as the standard reference method for Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). Minimum plasma concentrations (Cmin) of colistin higher than 2.5mg/L have been associated with an increased nephrotoxicity. Colistin resistance is due to the mobilized colistin resistance (mcr) gene which confers plasmid-mediated resistance to the drug. Colistin and its derivatives are the last resort agents in the treatment of MDR-GNBs. But with increasing resistance it has become difficult to treat dreadful infections caused due to these superbugs. Research is needed to improve upon colistin formulations. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved
Prevalence of nonviral reproductive tract infections/sexually transmitted infections in female patients with cervicovaginal discharge: Excerpts from a regional reference center in North India
(Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2022) Sunil Sethi; Nandita Sharma; Megha Sharma; Rajneesh Dadwal; Charu Singh; Hemant Chaudhary; Sakshi Malhotra; Rakesh Yadav; Vanita Gupta
Background: To study the prevalence of common nonviral reproductive tract infections/sexually transmitted infections (RTI/STI) prevailing among females who presented to our regional STI reference center and to ascertain the association of various symptoms with different RTI/STIs. Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis of female patients presenting to our STI Regional center located in the Department of Medical Microbiology in PGIMER, Chandigarh, was done between April 2018 and December 2019 for patients presenting with cervico-vaginal discharge. Two to three swabs were collected from each patient. The first swab was subjected to wet mount, gram stain, Potassium hydroxide (KOH) test, and culture on blood agar, the colonies obtained were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption time of flight mass spectrometer (MALDI TOF-MS). Second swab was used for DNA extraction and detection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG), Trichomonas vaginalis (TV), and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) by polymerase chain reaction. The third swab, when available, was inoculated onto pleuropneumonia-like organisms (PPLO) broth. Results: One thousand and thirteenth of 1472 (69%) female patients were symptomatic and the most common presenting symptoms were vaginal discharge (707/1013 [69.8%]), infertility (266/1013 [26.2%]), genital itching (60/1013 [5.9%]), lower abdomen pain (47/1013 [4.6%]) and burning micturition (16/1013 [1.6%]). The most prevalent RTI/STI was bacterial vaginosis (BV) 18.2% (269/1472), followed by vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) 6.8% (100/1472) and trichomoniasis (TV) 1.9% (28/1472). Five cases each of Mycoplasma genitalium and Ureaplasma urealyticum, three of NG and one of CT were also identified. Coinfections were seen in 40 (2.7%) cases. The most common causative agent responsible for VVC in our study was Candida albicans (65%). Conclusion: RTI/STIs were common among women and 69% were symptomatic. BV was the most common STI present in 18.2%, followed by VVC (6.8%) and trichomoniasis (1.9%). © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.