Abnormal vaginal discharge is a common symptom of genital infection in women. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the various causes of vaginal discharge in sexually active females. A cross-sectional study was undertaken among women aged 15 to 45 years with abnormal vaginal discharge, with or without itching attended at Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka for a period of 6 months. After making the clinical diagnosis, appropriate tests for diagnosing candidiasis, trichomoniasis, gonorrhea and bacterial vaginosis were done. Among all patients, organisms responsible for abnormal vaginal discharges were found in 94.8% of the cases, of which vaginal candidiasis (53.6%) was the most common, followed by bacterial vaginosis (29.2%), trichomoniasis (10.8%), gonorrhea (1.2%) and non-specific other urogenital causes (5.2%). The most common age groups affected by vaginal candidiasis, bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis were 26-35 years (64.9%), 26-35 years (27.6%) and 15-25 years (52%) respectively. Gonorrhea was recorded in the age group of 15-25 years (66.7%). Most of the organisms were isolated in the age group of 30-40 years. The causative agent of vaginal candidiasis was the leading cause of vaginal discharge in the age group of sexually active women and next to it was the bacterial vaginosis. A lower rate of Trichomonas vaginalis was found in our study in comparison to other studies. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/seajph.v1i1.13211 South East Asia Journal of Public Health 2011:1:35-39

A cross sectional study was conducted in inpatient department of seven primary level hospitals care centers (PLHCs) and six tertiary level hospitals (TLHs) of the country. Total 2058 hospitalized patients were interviewed over a six month period from October 2012. Most of the patients (85.9% in TLH and 100% in PLH) were prescribed with antibiotics at the time of admission. Only 6.4% patients of TLHs treated with antibiotic had culture proven infection and rest of the patient of TLH and all the patients of PLH were treated with antibiotic empirically. Top prescribed antibiotic was ceftriaxone (39.64% in TLH, 59.64% in PLH). Parenteral route of antibiotic administration was preferred for both at TLHs and PLHCs (63.3% and 76.9%). The results of the present study indicated that antibiotics were widely and inappropriately used without following standard guidelines or based on any rationality. This is an alarming situation, and needs to be addressed by the relevant authority to save the people from growing antibiotic resistance.Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2015; 9(2): 42-44

Hepatitis viruses are serious global public health problem and rapidly spreading in the developing countries due to factors like illiteracy, lack of health education, poverty. The aim of this study was to assess the level of knowledge and awareness of hepatitis infected people toward the disease, its consequences, routes of transmission of virus and preventive measures including vaccination. This cross-sectional study was carried out in the Department of Microbiology of Dhaka Medical Collage, Dhaka, Bangladesh from February to August 2013 among 2254 male jobseekers to Malaysia. History was taken and information was collected from HBsAg and anti-HCV positive persons by a predesigned questionnaire. Prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection in adult population was 2.35% and appears to be on decline and prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection was 0.13% that is still low in Bangladesh. No significant relationship was found between the demographic profile like religion, locality, occupation of the study population and hepatitis infection. In majority of the positive jobseekers, routes of transmission of viruses were not well established. Among infected population about 90% had educational status below secondary level, they were from low income group, and 60% of them were unemployed. Three fourth of them did not have proper knowledge about the disease, only about 10% of them properly knew about routes of transmission of hepatitis viruses and 91% did not have adequate knowledge about the preventive measures including vaccination. Knowledge about hepatitis was poor among infected population and they were not much aware about the disease; so measures should be taken to create awareness among the population about hepatitis and the preventive measures to halt the transmission of such infections.

Bangladesh J Med Microbiol 2010; 03 (02): 1-3

Background and objectives: Burkholderia pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, a potentially fatal disease endemic in Bangladesh. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for increased susceptibility to B. pseudomallei infection. A few studies have been conducted to identify the underlying immunological mechanism responsible for increased susceptibility of individuals with diabetes mellitus to B. pseudomallei infection. The present study investigated the polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) response to B. pseudomallei in terms of phagocytosis and early respiratory burst in individuals with diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: A total of 5 cases of DM and 5 age and sex matched non-diabetic healthy individuals were enrolled in the study to determine the early respiratory burst and phagocytic ability of PMN to B. pseudomallei. The effect of B. pseudomallei on phagocytic ability and early respiratory burst of PMN was determined by phagocytic assay and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) test respectively. The response of PMN treated with B. pseudomallei was compared with that of Escherichia coli. Results: There was no significant (p>0.05) difference in phagocytosis of B. pseudomallei by PMN between diabetic and non-diabetic cases (21.8±4.64 percent vs 29.25±5.5 percent). But in both diabetic and non-diabetic cases, significantly (p˂0.05 and p˂0.01) reduced rate of phagocytosis of B. pseudomallei by PMN was observed compared to E. coli (21.8±4.64 vs 65±5.36; 29.25±5.5 vs 71.25±5.59). Similar results were obtained in terms of phagocytic index. Mean percentage of formazan positive PMN from diabetic cases was not significantly different (p>0.05) from non-diabetic healthy cases when cells were treated with B. pseudomallei or E. coli. In both diabetic and healthy individuals, mean percentage of formazan positive PMN treated by B. pseudomallei was not significantly different from that by E. coli. Conclusion: The observations revealed that B. pseudomallei was equally capable of inhibiting the phagocytic ability of PMN from both diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. This anti-phagocytic property might play an important role in the pathogenesis of melioidosis. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2019; 13(2): 28-34