Brucellosis most of the times was missed or misdiagnosed. Regular screenings for brucellosis and awareness programmes to increase KAP levels are necessary to control brucellosis in occupationally exposed groups.

Background:Isolation of Brucella is the gold standard in the laboratory diagnosis of brucellosis. As Brucella is intracellular and the number of circulating bacteria is usually low, removal/dilution of antibacterial substances, concentration of bacteria and optimal culture conditions may enhance the rate of isolation.Aims and Objectives:The objective of the following study was to compare the lysis concentration (LC), clot culture and conventional Castaneda blood culture techniques for the isolation rate and recovery time in the diagnosis of human brucellosis.Materials and Methods:Blood cultures by LC, clot culture and conventional method were performed in 169 patients who had antibody titers ≥160 international units by the serum agglutination test.Results:Overall blood culture positivity was found to be 24.8%, 43.1% and 34.9% by conventional, LC and clot culture techniques in that order. The mean recovery time by LC and clot culture techniques was significantly less than conventional method, resulting in an overall difference of nearly 6 and 4 days respectively.Conclusions:For the isolation of Brucella from blood, LC and clot culture techniques are better than the conventional technique.

Background:Brucellosis is an important but neglected zoonotic disease in India. Due to frequent animal contact, high prevalence of this disease, though expected in rural population, has not been much studied.Aim:The study was carried out to determine serological, clinical, and epidemiological profile including associated risk factors for human brucellosis in rural India.Materials and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, serum samples from 1,733 individuals residing in rural areas were screened for the presence of anti-brucellar antibodies by Rose Bengal Plate test (RBPT), Serum Agglutination test (SAT), and 2-Mercaptoethanol test (2-ME). Clinical symptoms, epidemiological data including risk factors and knowledge about brucellosis were evaluated by personal interview using a structured questionnaire.Results:Of the 1,733 individuals, 998 had direct contact with animals, whereas 735 had no direct contact. The overall positivity rates by RBPT, SAT, and 2-ME test were 10.50% (182), 7.32% (127), and 5.88% (102), respectively. Clinical symptoms resembling brucellosis were seen in 151 (8.71%) subjects. Animal contact especially during milking, parturition/abortion was the major risk factor, followed by raw milk ingestion. None of the participant knew about brucellosis.Conclusion:Regular surveillance of the disease with awareness programs emphasizing prevention and control are needed.

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Purpose: In India, Plasmodium vivax malaria is endemic and accounts for 50-55% of the total malaria burden in the country. There has been limited sero-epidemiological data available from malaria non-endemic regions in Karnataka state. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the plasma levels of Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), Interferon-γ (IFN-γ), Interleukin-10 (IL-10), and Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) and correlate with malaria parasitaemia and infection type in vivax and falciparum malaria cases reported from two study centres. Methods: This hospital-based cross sectional observational study was conducted at BLDEU SHRI B.M. Patil during 2016 to 2019. A total number of 45 microscopy positive and molecularly confirmed malaria cases were included in the study. Plasma samples were analyzed for the concentrations of four cytokines by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). 20 uninfected healthy volunteers were used as controls. Correlation of cytokines and parasitemia was done using Pearson correlation analysis. Results: The results show an overall significant elevation of plasma TNF-α (p<0.05), IFN-γ (p<0.005), IL-10 (p<0.001), and TGF-β (p<0.001) in malaria patients compared to healthy controls. Except TNF-α (p<0.001), there was no significant difference in infection type specific immune responses. No significant correlation was seen among all the four cytokines with parasite load. A Receiver operating curve (ROC) was generated and showed that TNF-α, IL-10, and IFN-γ were the best individual predictors of malaria. Conclusions:We conclude that significantly elevated plasma concentrations of TNF-α-, IL-10, IFN-γ and TGF-β in both P. vivax and P. falciparum cases suggest their active involvement in mounting defensive immune response against malaria infection.