Infections caused by Chromobacterium violaceum are extremely rare but can be relatively fatal in septicemia. We report a case of a 76 year old female who presented with pustules in the skin and later developed into septicemia. She succumbed to the illness despite escalating the antibiotic therapy to meropenem. To the best of our knowledge this is the 16th case report from India.

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BACKGROUND Microcytic hypochromic anaemia is commonly due to iron deficiency, anaemia of chronic disorder [ACD] and thalassaemic syndromes. Reticulocyte count reflects the erythropoietic activity of bone marrow and is thus useful in both diagnosing anaemias and monitoring bone marrow response to therapy METHODS All samples were selected from routine blood counts, and sent for investigation of anaemia, over a period of two years. These samples were run on the DxH800 (Beckman Coulter). 385 cases were selected for the study. Blood analysis for all these cases had been requested by general practitioners to investigate anaemia. These blood samples had been collected in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) anticoagulant vacutainers and processed within 2 hours of collection. Determination of red cell and reticulocyte parameters in all blood samples, was performed using the Beckman Coulter 7-part analyser [Unicell DxH 800]. RESULTS Of the 156 cases of microcytic hypochromic anaemia studied, iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) was present in 91 cases, anaemia of chronic disorder (ACD) in 50 cases, beta thalassemia trait (BTT) in 15 cases. Of the 50 ACD cases, 37 were associated with IDA. The control group comprised of 229 adult medical students (143 women and 103 men) with a median age of 18.84 ± 0.98 years. We also had 4 cases of other haemoglobinopathies, which were microcytic hypochromic, but were not included in our study as the number of cases was too less to be analysed. CONCLUSIONS New reticulocyte parameters are useful for evaluation of iron status and diagnosing iron deficiency anaemias. They also are reliable parameters for recognising subsets of anaemic patients thereby improving the management of anaemia. KEYWORDS Reticulocyte, Microcytic, Hypochromic, Anaemia, Beckman Coulter

BACKGROUND Acute renal failure complicates 45% of cases in the general setup and up to 70% cases in the intensive care unit setup. Knowing the possibility of death is essential to determine the line of treatment and explaining prognosis to the patient and relatives. Multiple organ failure is a grave prognostic indicator in acute renal failure. We wanted to study the relation of indices to outcome in patients with acute renal failure. METHODS All patients above 18 years of age with acute renal failure who were admitted to hospital for a period of 1 year were included in the study. Those patients with preexisting chronic renal failure were excluded from the study. Statistical package for Social Sciences Version 14 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Need for respiratory support, comatose state, thrombocytopenia, and increasing number of complications are significant prognostic indicators according to this study. The mortality rate of patients in acute renal failure in this study was 26%. CONCLUSIONS Acute renal failure continues to be a leading cause of mortality in a hospital setup. Prognostic scoring will help not only to explain prognosis but also in triaging patients in case of natural or manmade catastrophes causing massive influx of patients to hospitals.

BACKGROUND Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder which has many triggering factors. Mycoplasma pneumoniae has been found to be a cause of exacerbations and chronicity of asthma. The present study is undertaken to determine the prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in lower respiratory tract of adults with asthma by isolating the organism by sputum culture. METHODS Hundred patients of asthma were studied for Mycoplasma by sputum culture. Baseline investigations and assessment of severity of asthma by symptom score was done. RESULTS 18% of patients had Mycoplasma positive in sputum culture. There was statistically significant difference between the Mycoplasma positive and negative groups when the daytime symptoms were analysed. CONCLUSIONS Mycoplasma infection was associated with asthma patients. Parameters like daytime symptom score and eosinophil count showed statistically significant difference between the Mycoplasma positive and negative group, whereas age, sex, family history of asthma, X Ray PNS, Gram stain and Ig E levels did not show any statistically significant difference between the two groups.