amrutha kumari - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by amrutha kumari

National Journal of Laboratory Medicine, 2015

Introduction: Enterococci are normal commensals in the gastrointestinal tract, oral cavity, vagin... more Introduction: Enterococci are normal commensals in the gastrointestinal tract, oral cavity, vagina etc. They are organisms of low virulence, but are known to cause various clinical infections. Enterococcus is considered as an important nososcomial pathogen because of its intrinsic as well as acquired antibiotic resistance. The increasing importance of Enterococcus is largely due to their resistance to many antimicrobials particularly intrinsically resistant Enterococci, which is the cause of changing pattern of Enterococcal infection resulting in treatment failures. Objectives: 1. Isolation, Identification and speciation of Enterococci from clinical specimens by conventional method. 2. Determination of Antibiogram of such isolates of Enterococci. Materials and Methods: Over a period of one year, 3,197 various clinical specimens were processed and a total of 80 strains of Enterococci isolated. Such isolates were identified and speciated by recommended conventional tests and biochemic...

Introduction: There is a risk of 1-2 per 1000 recipients receiving contaminated blood with viral,... more Introduction: There is a risk of 1-2 per 1000 recipients receiving contaminated blood with viral, bacterial and parasitic agents.TTI'S are the most commonly encountered complications in transfusion medicine. The objective of the study was to determine the seroprevalence of TTI's among blood donors, who represent healthy population at large. Materials & methods: A total of 33,658 blood units were received from voluntary and replacement donors over a period of 5 years. Surface antigen of HBV and antibodies to HIV and HCV were determined using ELISA. Syphilis was detected using TPHA test. Results: 947 (2.81%) blood units tested positive for HBV, HCV, HIV and / or syphilis. Overall prevalence was HBV-1.77%, HCV-0.13%, HIV-0.63% and Syphilis-0.28%. Nine (0.03%) donors had coinfections. Conclusion: The screening of blood donors is the corner stone in assuring the safety of blood transfusion.

Objective: The second round of the serial cross sectional sentinel based population survey to ass... more Objective: The second round of the serial cross sectional sentinel based population survey to assess active infection, seroprevalence, and their evolution in the general population across Karnataka was conducted. Additionally, a longitudinal study among participants identified as COVID 19 positive in the first survey round was conducted to assess the clinical sensitivity of the testing kit used. Methods: The cross sectional study of 41,228 participants across 290 healthcare facilities in all 30 districts of Karnataka was done among three groups of participants (low, moderate, and high risk). Consenting participants were subjected to real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) testing, and antibody (IgG) testing. Results: Overall weighted adjusted seroprevalence of IgG was 15.6% (95% CI: 14.9 to 16.3), crude IgG prevalence was 15.0% and crude active prevalence was 0.5%. Statewide infection fatality rate (IFR) was estimated as 0.11%, and COVID 19 burden estimated...

Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysore Email: drbivedu@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduc... more Mysore Medical College and Research Institute, Mysore Email: drbivedu@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduction: Hepatitis B and HIV infections are serious global public health problems. Many of the countries with high HIV burden are also affected by high prevalence of hepatitis B infection, leading to frequent HIV/HBV coinfection. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of HBV among HIV infected individuals in comparison with blood donors. Methods: All patients attending ICTC were screened for HIV and HBsAg. During the same period blood donors were screened for HBsAg and HIV. HIV-HBV coinfection in blood donors were noted during the study period. Results: A total of 2804 HIV seropositive cases were studied. 53 (1.89%) were positive for HBsAg. Among 21,779 blood donors, 206(0.94%) individuals were positive for HBsAg, 31(0.14%) for HIV and 3(0.013 %) had HIV HBV coinfection. Conclusion: HBV prevalence among HIV infected individuals is more, compared to blood donors. Screening of HIV patients f...

IJID Regions, 2021

Objective Demonstrate the feasibility of using the existing sentinel surveillance infrastructure ... more Objective Demonstrate the feasibility of using the existing sentinel surveillance infrastructure to conduct the second round of the serial cross-sectional sentinel-based population survey. Assess active infection, seroprevalence, and their evolution in the general population across Karnataka. Identify local variations for locally appropriate actions. Additionally, assess the clinical sensitivity of the testing kit used on account of variability of antibody levels in the population. Methods The cross-sectional study of 41,228 participants across 290 healthcare facilities in all 30 districts of Karnataka was done among three groups of participants (low, moderate, and high-risk). The geographical spread was sufficient to capture local variations. Consenting participants were subjected to real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing, and antibody (IgG) testing. Clinical sensitivity was assessed by conducting a longitudinal study among participants identified as COVID-19 positive in the first survey round. Results Overall weighted adjusted seroprevalence of IgG was 15.6% (95% CI: 14.9–16.3), crude IgG prevalence was 15.0% and crude active infection was 0.5%. Statewide infection fatality rate (IFR) was estimated as 0.11%, and COVID-19 burden estimated between 26.1 to 37.7% (at 90% confidence). Further, Cases-to-infections ratio (CIR) varied 3-35 across units and IFR varied 0.04–0.50% across units. Clinical sensitivity of the IgG ELISA test kit was estimated as ≥38.9%. Conclusion We demonstrated the feasibility and simplicity of sentinel-based population survey in measuring variations in subnational and local data, useful for locally appropriate actions in different locations. The sentinel-based population survey thus helped identify districts that needed better testing, reporting, and clinical management. The state was far from attaining natural immunity during the survey and hence must step up vaccination coverage and enforce public health measures to prevent the spread of COVD-19.

International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2021

To estimate the burden of active infection and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in Karnataka, India... more To estimate the burden of active infection and anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in Karnataka, India, and to assess variation across geographical regions and risk groups. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 16,416 people covering three risk groups was conducted between 3-16 September 2020 using the state of Karnataka's infrastructure of 290 healthcare facilities across all 30 districts. Participants were further classified into risk subgroups and sampled using stratified sampling. All participants were subjected to simultaneous detection of SARS-CoV-2 IgG using a commercial ELISA kit, SARS-CoV-2 antigen using a rapid antigen detection test (RAT) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for RNA detection. Maximum-likelihood estimation was used for joint estimation of the adjusted IgG, active and total prevalence (either IgG or active or both), while multinomial regression identified predictors.

During March to June 2021 India has experienced a deadly second wave of COVID-19 with an increase... more During March to June 2021 India has experienced a deadly second wave of COVID-19 with an increased number of post-vaccination breakthrough infections reported across the country. To understand the possible reason of these breakthroughs we collected 677 clinical samples (throat swab/ nasal swabs) of individuals who had received two doses (n=592) and one dose (n=85) of vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin,) and tested positive for COVID-19, from 17 states/Union Territories of country. These cases were telephonically interviewed and clinical data was analyzed. A total of 511 SARS-CoV-2 genomes were recovered with genome coverage of higher than 98% from both the cases. Analysis of both the cases determined that 86.69% (n=443) of them belonged to the Delta variant along with Alpha, Kappa, Delta AY.1 and Delta AY.2. The Delta variant clustered into 4 distinct sub-lineages. Sub-lineage–I had mutations: ORF1ab-A1306S, P2046L, P2287S, V2930L, T3255I, T3446A, G5063S, P5401L, A6319V and N-G215C; S...

International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 2018

IP International Journal of Medical Microbiology and Tropical Diseases, 2020

Introduction: Neonatal sepsis is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among the new... more Introduction: Neonatal sepsis is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality among the newborns in the developing countries. For the effective management of neonatal sepsis, knowledge about causative agent and antibiotic sensitivity pattern play a vital role. Present study was undertaken to analyze the various risk factors of bacterial sepsis, to isolate aerobic bacteria causing neonatal septicemia and to study the antibiogram of bacterial isolates. Material and Methods: Study was done over a period of one year. 198 clinically suspected cases of neonatal septicemia were included in the study. Detailed record of various predisposing neonatal factors were noted in a pro-forma. Blood samples from the neonates were subjected to aerobic blood cultures. The identification of the causative organism was carried out by standard identification tests and antibiotic sensitivity testing was done as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Results: Of 198 neonates studied, predisposing factors for neonatal sepsis were mainly low birth-weight and preterm. Blood cultures were positive in 128(64.64%) cases. Predominant organisms isolated were Staphylococcus aureus (54.7%) and Klebsiella spp. (14.1%). Among Staphylococcus aureus, 43(61.42%) isolates were MRSA and most of them were sensitive only to vancomycin and linezolid. Most of the MSSA were sensitive to cotrimoxazole, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, linezolid. Most of the Gram negative bacilli were sensitive to imipenem, piperacillin-tazobactam and amikacin. Conclusion: For the effective management of neonatal sepsis continued surveillance is mandatory for each center due to temporal changes in the causative organisms and their antibiotic susceptibility.