Introduction: Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) refers to an infection of the lung by a variety of microorganisms acquired outside the hospital setting. Methods and Material: It was prospective study conducted at department of Pediatrics of a tertiary care hospital of North India for a period of 12 months on children with community acquired pneumonia admitted in ward and emergency. Total 50 cases were enrolled in the study as recent WHO guidelines of community acquired pneumonia.Samples oforopharyngeal swab and blood for culture and sensitivity were collected with standard precautions from every child and sent for bacteriological lab within 30 minute of collection. Results: Out of 50 cases 36 (72%) were diagnosed as pneumonia and 14 (28%) were as severe pneumonia. On blood culture only 7 (14%) had positive growth and on oropharyngeal swab culture 9 (18%) had growth. Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumonia were predominant organism on blood culture and oropharyngeal swab culture respectively. Conclusion: The overall rate of identification of bacterial etiology of CAP was low. Streptococcus pneumonae and Staphylococcus aureus predominate in oropharyngeal swab culture and blood culture respectively.

Background: Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use is high among chronic illness like arthritis to derive additional benefits Aim and Objective: To examine CAM use among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in 100 patients having rheumatoid arthritis reporting to medical OPD of tertiary-care hospital. Patients were asked to respond to a predesigned questionnaire pertaining to demographic profile and CAM usage. Result: CAM use was high among RA (60%) patients more so with longer duration of disease (81.66%). Majority of patients were from rural background (80%) above 40 years age (87%) and were females. Of all, 75% patients took to CAM after antirheumatoid drugs and lack of relief was the main reason. Ayurveda was most common type of CAM (35%) used and relatives were the principal source of information (58.33%). Most of the patients (61.66%) of rheumatoid arthritis reported relief with CAM. Conclusion: CAM use is high among RA patients especially in females and patients with longer duration of disease. Lack of benefit from anti-rheumatoid drugs was the main reason of CAM usage. Ayurveda was the most common type of CAM used. Therefore, the outcome of the study calls for the attention of treating physician regarding CAM use as some orally used CAM therapies can be harmful due to possibility of interactions and heavy metals.

Amavata is described as a difficult to cure (Krichhrasadhya) disease in Ayurveda. Pain in joints with swelling is a cardinal feature of this disease. It can be correlated with rheumatoid arthritis described in modern medical science. In conventional medical science, steroids and some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used for its management, but they cause certain dangerous side effects in the patients. Ayurveda promises an excellent therapy for it. The present clinical trial was conducted with the same objective to provide a safe, economical and effective therapy to the patients of Amavata. The present study was conducted in 73 patients having classical symptoms of Amavata. The patients were given Vardhamana Pippali Rasayana for 15 days. Patients with any other acute or chronic systemic illness or infection were excluded from the study. The observations and results obtained were analyzed statistically applying the “t” test. All the patients experienced up to 50% relief from the signs and symptoms of Amavata after the therapy. The drug might have produced its beneficial effects in the patients of Amavata due to its Agnideepana, Amapachana, Vatashamaka and Rasayana effects in the body. A significant decrease in the erythrocyte sedimentation rate in all the patients was also noticed. All the results obtained were highly significant statistically. Thus, it can be implicated that the Vardhamana Pippali Rasayana has a lot of beneficial effects in the patients of Amavata.

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