BackgroundMelioidosis, a severe and fatal infectious disease caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, is believed to an emerging global threat. However, data on the natural history, risk factors, and geographic epidemiology of the disease are still limited.MethodsWe undertook a retrospective analysis of 145 confirmed cases extracted from a hospital-based Melioidosis Registry set up from 2005 in Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Setar, Kedah state, Malaysia, in order to provide a first description of the contemporary incidence, risk factors, and clinical epidemiology of the disease in this putatively high risk region of the country.ResultsThe incidence of melioidosis in Alor Setar is remarkably high at 16.35 per 100,000 population per year. The mean age of patients was 50.40 years, with infection varying nonlinearly with age. Males (75.2%; P < 0.0001) predominated and the majority of cases were Malays (88.9%). The overall, crude mortality rate among the study patients was 33.8%. The proportions of cases and deaths were significantly greater among patients involved in farming, forestry and fishing and the unemployed (χ2 = 30.57, P < 0.0001). A majority of cases (62.75%) were culture positive, with mortality in these patients being 45.05%. A large proportion (83.0%) of culture positives was also bacteremic. Pneumonia accounted for 42.06% of primary diagnoses followed in importance by soft tissue abscess. In patients with pneumonia and who were culture positive, the mortality rate was as high as 65.00%. Diabetes mellitus constituted the major underlying risk factor for developing and dying from melioidosis, occurring in 57% of all diagnosed cases. The age distribution of diabetes paralleled that of melioidosis cases. There were linear associations between cases and deaths with monthly rainfall.ConclusionsMelioidosis represents a complex socio-ecological public health problem in Kedah, being strongly related with age, occupation, rainfall and predisposing chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus. Among cases, bacteremic patients were associated with significantly high mortality despite provision of the recommended antibacterial therapy. The burden of this disease is likely to grow in this region unless better informed interventions targeted at high-risk groups and associated diseases are urgently implemented.
The antibiotic susceptibility pattern of Vibrio cholerae O139, Bengal, an emerging intestinal pathogen has been determined by the Kirby Bauer technique and the MIC values of some antibiotics against these strains by agar dilution technique. All the strains were susceptible to tetracycline, norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin and a majority was susceptible to gentamicin (95.7%) and nalidixic acid (82.9%). Only 51% were susceptible to cefotaxime and most strains were resistant to furazolidone (95.7%), ampicillin (87.3%) and co-trimoxazole (91.5%). The study shows the importance of judicious use of antibiotics in cholera cases and the need for monitoring the susceptibility status of these strains particularly because of their ability to cause extra-intestinal infections like septicaemia.
The constituent plants used for preparation of Sahacharadi Kashayam are Barleria strigose, Sida cordifolia, Tinospora cordifolia, Cedrus deodora and Zingiber officinale. This formulation is effective in the management of vata rogas like rheumatic arthritis, numbness, back ache etc. Various properties of these medicinal plants in the formulations defined in texts of Ayurveda, like Sangrahi, Rasayana, Arshnashaka, etc., are gaining scientific validity via modern research adopting "reverse pharmacological" approach. 4 To our knowledge this is the first report on the experimental verification of the role of this Kashayam for its anti-arthritic activity against Freund's adjuvant induced arthritis.
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