Mean rates of VAP, CLABSI, and CAUTI were 14.4, 8.1, and 4.5 per 1000 device days, which are comparable with Indian and global ICUs. Patients and HCPs form important reservoirs of infection. Resolute conviction and sustained momentum in Infection Control Initiatives are an essential step toward patient safety.

The prevalence of infectious disease markers was similar to that reported by other studies. However, no significant difference was seen in the marker positivity in voluntary and replacement donors, which is at variance from other studies.

Background: Varicella zoster (VZ) is a highly contagious exanthematous disease. The Indian VZ clade 5 has a high outbreak potential with attack rates of 90%, which thwarts all the infection control endeavors in hospital and institutional environments. Four VZ outbreaks occurring over four different years were investigated with military nursing students in a tertiary-care hospital in order to delineate infection control protocols. Methods: VZ outbreaks were investigated by hospital infection control committee utilizing standard definitions and protocols after establishing epidemiological linkage. A total of 114 nursing students were evaluated through a questionnaire developed to assess clinicodemographic, exposure, confinement and vaccination parameters. Outbreak control measures included isolation of patients; quarantined close-contacts and suspects; acyclovir treatment; immunization of susceptible candidates against VZ. Results: There were four different outbreaks comprising a total of 23 patients including five breakthrough patients with cumulative attack rate of 39%. Most patients had mild VZ. Most common sources were friends. Also, 25 students had no exposure to VZ or VZ vaccine, and were identified to be susceptible candidates and accordingly, were vaccinated. Conclusions: Outbreaks of VZ are emerging in the developing countries due to inadequate immunization coverage, primary failure to seroconvert, or failure to mount immune response despite seroconversion, or secondary failure due to waning immunity. Outbreaks of VZ may have variable epidemiological dynamics and may not be controlled with standard infection-control programs. There is a need to augment existing capabilities for optimizing outbreak management in institutional settings.

Introduction: Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has affected healthcare access to population around the world. India also had its own set of problems for patients with disruption of healthcare services during the pandemic. This also brought in unique challenges for ophthalmologists who adapted to new challenges to provide quality care to the patients including those reporting for cataract surgery. Aim: To find out cataract surgery trends and demographic variables during lockdown and unlocking periods of COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted at Ophthalmology department of a tertiary care centre in eastern India, from January 2020 to March 2022. Trends of cataract surgery including numbers, demographic factors, visual acuity at presentation, difference during first and second lock and unlock periods etc were compared during various lock and unlock period over more than two years. Results: A total of 3,843 patients were planned for surgery and 3,594 patients underwent cataract surgery. A total of 218 patients reported being positive for COVID-19 preoperatively and voluntarily dropped out from surgery. A total of 24 patients were found to be positive during preoperative Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) workup and were excluded from surgery. Seven patients didn’t report for the surgery. A total of 59 patients reported febrile illness during one month postoperative period. There was dip in cataract surgery during lockdown periods (from 178.33 every month in pre COVID-19 period to near zero during first lockdown period) but recovery was much faster during second unlock period compared to first unlock period. Conclusion: The study concludes that there was drastic decrease in number of patients undergoing cataract surgery during COVID-19 pandemic. Predominantly young, male patients who had advanced morphology of cataracts with poor visual acuity accessed healthcare set-up for cataract surgery during initial lock and unlock period. Similar trend was seen during second lock and unlock period with rapid recovery of numbers and demography of cataract surgery patients to preCOVID-19 levels.