Prevalence and pattern of alcohol consumption among women of reproductive age group in urban settings of Sikkim: a cross sectional study

Background: Alcohol consumption by women of reproductive age group not only affects their health but can also cause multiple adverse birth outcomes. The objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence and pattern of alcohol consumption among women of reproductive age group in urban field practice areas of Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences (SMIMS) by using a structured questionnaire and WHO tool, AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test). Methods: The study was a cross sectional study. A total of 284 women of reproductive age group (15-49 years) were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and AUDIT. Results: The overall prevalence of alcohol consumption was 36.6%. Proportion of alcohol users was more among women of 25-34 years. Almost 95% of the women are current users (alcohol use in past 12 months). Beer was mostly preferred over other types of alcoholic beverages. Social customs (36.5%) and stress (25%) were the main reasons for consumption of alcohol. Based on AUDIT score, low risk drinking 68.6% was the predominant drinking pattern reported. However, one fourth of the women fall into hazardous pattern of drinking and 3 out of every 100 women had harmful and dependent pattern of drinking respectively. Conclusions: The present study highlights the prevalence of alcohol consumption among women of reproductive age group in urban field practice areas of SMIMS. Socio-cultural factors and stressful life plays an influential role in consumption of alcohol. Although low risk drinking is the predominant pattern of alcohol use, an alarming 31% of women consuming alcohol are at risk of developing alcohol related harm.

Urinary tract infection by Chryseobacterium indologenes.

Chryseobacterium species is an uncommon human pathogen although recovered from various sources in the hospital environment. Most infections have been detected in hospitalized patients with severe underlying diseases and who had indwelling devices or implants. Despite their low virulence, chryseobacteria are inherently resistant to many antimicrobial agents. We report a rare case of urinary tract infection by Chryseobacterium indologenes in a young girl, operated for renal calculus and successfully treated with piperacillin-tazobactam combination.

Surgical filariasis: immunoscreening for filarial IgG antibodies using Wuchereria bancrofti microfilarial excretory-secretory antigen.

A clinical study and immunoscreening was conducted on 363 suspected filarial patients attending the surgery out patient division of the MGIMS, Sevegram. The disease was significantly higher in males (86%) than in females (14%). Majority (52.9%) of the cases were in the age group of 11-30 years. The distribution of cases into three different grades of infection showed, 52.6%, 33.3% and 14.1% of the cases having acute (grade I), sub-acute (grade II) and chronic (grade III) stages of infection respectively. While 73% of the cases had genital manifestations, 23% were with lymphatic obstruction in limbs and the rest of the 4% suffered from manifestations like cellulitis, abscesses, haematuria and chyluria. Filarial IgG antibodies against microfilarial excretory-secretory (mf ES) antigen were detected in 89% of cases with genital manifestations, 87% of lymphoedema cases, 67% of lymphadenitis cases and 60% of cases with other clinical manifestations and 3% of endemic normals.

Vivax malaria causing priapism.

We report a 14 year old boy who had priapism induced by vivax malaria. The onset was latent and course was protracted, refractory to anti-malarial and conservative treatment, but satisfactory detumescence was achieved after surgical intervention.

Indirect haemagglutination test for the assay of antibodies against Japanese encephalitis viral antigen in human & animal sera.

The indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test was standardized for the assay of antibodies against Japanese encephalitis (JE) virus. Glutaraldehyde fixed sheep erythrocytes were sensitized with purified and concentrated JE vaccine (200-300% brain concentration). The JE vaccine made from Nakayama-NIH strain of JE virus was purified by protamine sulphate treatment and by ultracentrifugation in a sucrose gradient. The sensitized cells were quite stable in liquid as well as in lyophilized state both at -70 degrees C and 4-8 degrees C. These cells could be used for two years without much loss (4-8 times loss) in titre. The IHA test was as sensitive as the neutralization (N) test performed by plaque reduction method in chick embryo fibroblasts. The sensitivity of the test was influenced by the source of erythrocytes i.e., from the different sheep from which these were drawn. After standardization of the test, 16 human sera and 18 sera of immunized mice were assayed for antibodies against JE virus by N and IHA tests. There were no significant differences between titres of both human and mice sera determined by N and IHA tests (P greater than 0.05). The correlation coefficient between N and IHA titres for human sera was 0.60 (P less than 0.05) and for mice sera 0.82 (P less than 0.01). The IHA test has been found to be very simple, inexpensive, sensitive and reproducible.