Pyrexia in Pregnancy and its Maternal and Fetal Outcome.

Background Contemporary obstetrics has witnessed improved maternal and fetal outcomes, owing to several advances. Any source of maternal hyperthermia that results in significant core temperature increase (> 38°C), could potentially affect the fetus. Fetus being an integral part of the feto-maternal unit and pregnancy involving numerous physiological changes and adaptations, pyrexia during the pregnancy affects both the mother and her fetus adversely. Objective To find the etiology and prevalence of fever in pregnancy and to know the effect of fever on maternal and fetal outcome. Method Pregnant ladies with fever > 38°C, presenting to Obstetrics and Gynecology, Department of Dhulikhel Hospital were enrolled in the study. A detailed clinical history, thorough general and physical examinations were done. All risk factors were asked and recorded including all baseline investigations and cases were followed up till delivery. Maternal and fetal outcomes were recorded. Data were recorded in Excel and calculated using SPSS 26. Result Eighty patients presented with complaints of fever were included in this study. The mean age of the patient was 25.49± 4.50 years. Out of 80 patients, 46 (57.50%) presented with fever in the third trimester. The most common etiology of fever being urinary tract infection in 21 (26%) cases followed by respiratory tract infection in 20 (25.1%) cases. Twenty two newborns had low birth weight among which 12 (15%) neonates had IUGR. About 14 (17.5%) neonates were admitted in NICU due to various complications and perinatal mortality was in 9 (11.25%) cases. The most common antepartum complication was preterm labor in 16 (20%) cases. Conclusion Fever in pregnancy is still a challenge to obstetrician and the society at large due its problems related to its prevention, diagnosis, management and its feto-maternal outcome. Hence, an evaluation of the effect and outcomes of fever in pregnancy, provides definite knowledge of clinical epidemiology, and facilitates optimum prioritization of efforts and resources.

Whole Genome Sequence Analysis to Identify SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Nepal.

Background The spread of SARS-CoV-2 has become a global public health crisis. Nepal is facing the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic but, there is still a limited data on the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in Nepal. Objective The objective of this study is to sequence the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2 in Nepal to detect possible mutation profiles and phylogenetic lineages of circulating SARSCoV-2 variants. Method In this study, swab samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were investigated. After RNA extraction, the investigation was performed through real-time PCR followed by whole genome sequencing. The consensus genome sequences were, then, analyzed with appropriate bioinformatics tools. Result Sequence analysis of two SARS-CoV-2 genomes from patient without travel history (Patient A1 and A2) were found to be of lineage B.1.1. Similarly, among other four samples from subjects returning from the United Kingdom, genomes of two samples were of lineage B.1.36, and the other two were of lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant). The mutations in the consensus genomes contained the defining mutations of the respective lineages of SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion We confirmed two genomic sequences of variant of concern VOC-202012/01 in Nepal. Our study provides the concise genomic evidence for spread of different lineages of SARS-CoV-2 - B.1.1, B.1.36 and B.1.1.7 of SARS-CoV-2 in Nepal.

A study of Deep Neck Space Infections at Kathmandu University Dhulikhel Hospital.

Background Deep neck infections are severe infections in potential spaces and fascial planes of the neck. Despite antibiotic therapy, these infections continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality. Objective To determine the clinical features, predisposing factors, socio demographic factors and complications associated with deep neck infections. Method Prospective study conducted in the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Kathmandu University Dhulikhel Hospital between March 2018 and June 2020. Seventy-five patients with deep neck infections were enrolled. Result Submandibular abscess was most frequently observed (41.3%), followed by submental abscess (25.3%), parotid abscess(9.3%), ludwig's angina (6.7%), posterior triangle of neck abscess (4%), retropharyngeal abscess (2.7%), parapharyngeal space abscess (2.7%), and multiple space infections (8%). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common organism (53.3%), followed by Beta hemolytic Streptococcus (12%) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (12%). A negative culture was seen in 22.7%. Sixty-eight percent of patients underwent incision and drainage. Incision and drainage with dental extraction was done in 26.7%, four percent underwent incision and drainage with debridement and dental extraction, whereas 1.3% underwent incision and drainage with tracheostomy. Eight percent patients required Intensive care unit admission. Seven patients had descending mediastinitis, four out of which developed sepsis. When age and duration of hospital stay were correlated by using Pearson correlation coefficient, a remarkable correlation was observed (p=.020). Noteworthy relationship was not observed between different locations of deep neck infections and duration of hospital stay (p=.202). Conclusion Early identification of deep neck infections is often challenging. Proper knowledge and extreme vigilance is necessary when dealing with these complex entities to avoid life-threatening complications.

Seroprevalence of Scrub Typhus in Patients Attending Dhulikhel Hospital, Kavre.

Background Scrub typhus is a largely ignored tropical disease and a leading cause of undifferentiated febrile illness. It is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. Scrub Typhus is frequently observed in South Asian countries. However, clear epidemiological information of this disease is lacking in case of Nepal. Nepal has shown steady increase in cases of Scrub Typhus since 2015. The epidemiological data related to this disease would support the decision making and surveillance design for early outbreak detection and immediate responses including prevention and treatment of scrub typhus in Nepal. Objective To understand prevalence of Scrub Typhus in subjects who had visited outpatient department at Dhulikhel Hospital. Method In this study, we have studied antibody test data (n=784) for Scrub Typhus from 2019 to 2021. The tests were performed on serum samples of patients who had visited OPD at Dhulikhel Hospital with fever lasting more than 5 days. The kit used in analysis was Scrub Typhus Detect™ IgM ELISA Kit from InBios International. Result Out of the total subjects (n=784), 133 were positive (16.9%) for IgM antibody of Scrub Typhus. The positivity in female (18.6%) was higher than the male subjects (15.3%). The positivity rate was variable among the different age groups, with highest positivity for age group 0-14 years (25%). The seasonal variation was also observed among the seropositive cases. Conclusion Scrub Typhus being a neglected tropical disease has high prevalence. It can be postulated that female subjects and subjects of age group 0-14 years are vulnerable to the infection with Scrub Typhus. There is need to increase the surveillance of Scrub Typhus to add the knowledge for diagnosis and treatment.

Mobile Phone: A Possible Vector of Bacterial Transmission in Hospital Setting.

Background Mobile phones of Health Care Workers (HCWs) are capable of harbouring microorganisms that can potentially cause nosocomial infections. Frequent movement of hospital staff inside and outside the hospital can augment bacterial transmission inside hospital and even to the community. Objective To screen the mobile phones of Health Care Workers for potential pathogens and perform microbiological study of the isolates. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted in 124 Health Care Workers of different departments of tertiary care hospital. Swabs were taken from their mobile phones, processed immediately and identified and their antibiotic suceptibility pattern was studied. Results This study revealed that bacterial growth was positive for pathogenic organisms in 89 out of 124 (71.8%) mobile phones out of which 33 (82.5%) were of male and 56 (66.7%) of female. However, there was no significant association between gender and isolation of pathogens. Single pathogen was isolated in 74 (59.7%) of mobile phones and multiple pathogens were isolated in 15(12.1%). Amongst them, most common pathogen isolated was Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) (56.7%) followed by Micrococcus spp., Escherichia. coli, Enterobacter spp., Acinetobacter spp., Staphylococcus. aureus, Klebsiella spp. and Enterococcus spp. Most of the Gram Positive Cocci (GPC) were sensitive to Vancomycin (81.9%) and Ciprofloxacin (88%) while were resistant to Penicillin(83.1%). For Gram negative bacteria sensitivity to ciprofloxacin ranged from 83.33% to 100% . Conclusion Mobile phones are possible vectors of bacterial transmission and therefore are constant threat to the lives of already seriously ill patients as well as healthy individuals visiting the hospital. So it is recommended to make infection control guidelines which target the use of suitable disinfectants to avoid mobile phone contamination.

Comparision of clinical and laboratory parameters in culture proven and unproven early onset sepsis in NICU.

BACKGROUND: Early onset sepsis remains a major cause for neonatal morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to describe and compare the clinical and laboratory characteristics of neonates in neonatal intensive care unit with culture positive and negative early onset sepsis and verify if there were any differences between the groups. METHODS: A one year comparative prospective study was conducted from January 2011 to January 2012 in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Dhulikhel Hospital, Kathmandu University Hospital (KUH). RESULTS: Out of 215 cases of suspected neonatal sepsis, 192 (89.30%) cases of early onset sepsis were admitted in neonatal intensive care unit. Out of which 82 cases (42.7%) had blood culture positive and 110( 57.3%) had culture negative but compatible with features of clinical sepsis. There were no cases of culture proven meningitis and urinary tract infections. The clinical characteristic did not show any statistical differences between the study groups except for seizure which was found to be high in culture positive cases (p= 0.041). The hospital stay in neonatal intensive care unit was significantly longer (p=0.02) in culture positive cases. As for the laboratory test there were no differences found between the two study groups except cases of meningitis was more in culture proven early onset sepsis (p=0.00). The overall mortality in early onset sepsis was 36.95%. The higher mortality of 64.7% was seen in culture positive cases but statistically not significant. CONCLUSION: Clinical manifestation and laboratory test were insufficient to distinguish between neonatal infection with blood culture positive and negative sepsis, hence both culture positive and negative cases should be treated promptly and equally.

Clinical profile and antibiotics sensitivity in childhood urinary tract infection at Dhulikhel Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Urinary Tract Infection implies presence of actively multiplying organisms in the urinary tract. Although it is infrequently associated with mortality, it is still a significant cause of morbidity. Early diagnosis is critical to preserve renal function of growing kidney. OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine the clinical, microbiologic profile and antibiotic sensitivity of such infections in pediatric Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) patients at Dhulikhel Hospital. METHODS: A hospital based prospective descriptive study of 135 children from 2 months to 16 years, with clinical diagnosis of urinary tract infection who visited the pediatric department of Dhulikhel Hospital over the period of 15 months were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent routine urine analysis and culture. Children with recurrent UTI underwent micturating cystourethrogram (MCUG). Children with recurrent UTI of more than two years and with feature of pyelonephritis underwent USG abdomen as well. Complications and response of the treatment was observed in all cases of UTI. All data were entered in Epidata and data analysis was done using spss 16 version. RESULTS: Among 135 children, 32.5% were male and 67.4% were female. Fever was the most common presenting symptom in 74.80% of patients followed by dysuria in 54.1%. Among these children 95.6% had significant pyuria and 45% had culture positive infection. Children who showed positive for bacteriuria, Escherichia coli (78.7%) was the most common organism and are more than 80% sensitive to Amikacin, Gentamicin, Ceftriaxone, Ofloxacin, Nalidixic acid, Imipenem and Vancomycin. Co-trimoxazole was the most common drug used for treatment with a mean drug respond time of (mean+/-S.D) of 2.21+/-.78 days. 2+/-. Children who had recurrent UTI were more prone to develop culture positive UTI (p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: Urinary Tract Infection in female was almost twice more common than in male. Cotrimoxazole was the most common drug used for treatment, sensitivity of this drug was less than 50% for all organisms.

Identification of lysine positive non-fermenting gram negative bacilli (Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and Burkholderia cepacia complex).

BACKGROUND: The Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia are closely related groups of non-fermenting gram-negative bacilli (NFGNBs) having a similar spectrum of infections ranging from superficial to deep-seated and disseminated infections. Identification of these lysine decarboxylase-positive NFGNBs lags behind in most Indian laboratories. A simplified identification scheme was devised for these two pathogens that allowed us to isolate them with an increasing frequency at our tertiary care institute. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A simple five-tube conventional biochemical identification of these bacteria has been standardized. In the beginning, some of the isolates were confirmed from the International B. cepacia Working group, Belgium. Molecular identification and typing using recA polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was also standardized for BCC. For short-term preservation of BCC, an innovative method of preserving the bacteria in Robertson's cooked medium tubes kept in a domestic refrigerator was developed. RESULTS: Thirty-nine isolates of BCC isolates were obtained from various specimens (30 from blood cultures) and 22 S. maltophilia (13 blood cultures and 9 respiratory isolates) were isolated during the year 2007 alone. CONCLUSIONS: BCC and S. maltophilia can be identified with relative ease using a small battery of biochemical reactions. Use of simplified methods will allow greater recognition of their pathogenic potential and correct antimicrobials should be advised in other clinical laboratories and hospitals.

Investigation of Burkholderia cepacia complex in septicaemic patients in a tertiary care hospital, India.

Burkholderia cepacia complex (BCC) is being increasingly recognized as an important pathogen of humans. During the year 2007-8, 39 putative BCC isolates were obtained from 21 cases and subjected to recA PCR RFLP. Twenty-four isolates were confirmed as Burkholderia cenocepacia IIIA (nineteen isolates, recA PCR RFLP type G and five isolates, recA PCR RFLP type I), six were confirmed as B. cepacia (recA PCR RFLP type E). BCC were isolated from inpatients of different wards of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh with increased isolation from children admitted to different wards of Advanced Pediatric Centre (11/21 cases). BCC isolates are often resistant to most commonly used antibiotics and an early use of effective antimicrobial therapy can decrease morbidity and mortality.