A prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital to study clinicoepidemiological profile of potentially rabid animal bite cases from rural India. Total of 308 children (median age 6 years) admitted to hospital, were recruited over 1 year and followed up till completion of antirabies vaccine course. Dog was the commonest (77.27%) offending animal. Of the exposures, 66.88% were scratches, 88.96% were unprovoked and 27.27% were categorized as Class III. The median times to wound toileting and reporting to health facility were 1 and 6 h, respectively. Majority received prompt PEP in hospital, and RIG was administered in 34.55% of Class II and 90.48% of Class III exposures. Compared with their older counterparts, children aged <5 years suffered more bites on face and trunk and more Class III exposures. The rabies prophylaxis scenario is encouraging, when compared with earlier studies, but there are gaps to be addressed.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Assessing the co-infections with COVID-19 is crucial to delineate its true clinical impact. Pediatric information in this aspect is limited. Our study aims to analyze the spectrum of co-infections in pediatric COVID-19 patients and determine the clinical as well as laboratory parameters predicting co-infection.
METHODOLOGY
In this prospective observational study conducted from June to December, 2020 in a single tertiary care institution, data pertaining to demographic, illness and treatment-related variables were analyzed among two subsets of pediatric patients of age 1 month -12 years with RTPCR-confirmed COVID-19 infection-Group A: those with confirmed co-infection and Group B: moderate to severe disease without co-infection. Among Group A, etiology of co-infection was characterized through relevant microbiological examination within 48 hours admission.
RESULT
Among our study population, 15.03% and 20.6% had co-infections and moderate to severe disease respectively. Among those with confirmed co-infection, 32.5%, 11.6% and 6.97% recorded blood culture, respiratory secretion and CSF growth respectively, the picture being dominated by Methicillin resistant and sensitive Staph. Aureus. Serum serology demonstrated Scrub typhus infection to be most prevalent. Concurrent respiratory viral infections were seen in 11.6%. Children with co-infection had significantly higher morbidity and need for supportive therapy. Predictors of co-infection were localization of infection, Neutrophil count >/= 10 x 109, age specific lymphopenia, CRP > 100 mg/dL and hyper-ferritinemia.
CONCLUSION
Co-infections are an important factor prognosticating pediatric Covid infection .Their early detection, prompt and appropriate treatment is of paramount importance.
Background: Covid-19 pandemic is a rapidly spreading outbreak which has caused sudden respiratory distress and death all over the world. This pandemic situation is a major concern for all the health related professionals globally. Treating patients, reducing spread of infection and side by side protecting themselves during rendering care to patients is the main concern for health care workers. Objectives: The study is aimed at assessing training status, correctness of use, problems faced during use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and occurrence of Covid-19 positivity among health care workers at Pediatric Covid-19 ward at Medical College, Kolkata. Patients and methods: 194 doctors, nurses, technician, house -keeping staffs from Pediatrics department of Medical College Kolkata, engaged in Covid-19 related care from June 2020 to October, 2020, were included in this prospective observational study. A self administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Statistical analysis was done in MS-Excel. Descriptive statistics were calculated in terms of number & proportions.Results: 84(43.3%) doctors, 70 (36.1 %) nurse, 20 (10.3%), scavengers, 20(10.3%) technician participated in the present study. Headache and difficulty in vision due to fogging, 'fear of infection', 'early irritability' are main health problems as stated by the participants after wearing PPE. Availability of PPE in different sizes, quality improvement was some of the key suggestions. 10.5% of participants contracted COVID-19 in three months follow up period. Conclusion: Adequacy of supply and familiarity with PPE was not a concern for the study subjects but there was poor comfort and difficulty in doffing.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.