Limited information is available about the prevalence and genotype distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the general population of India. A community-based epidemiologic study was carried out in a district in West Bengal, India. By a 1:3 sampling method, 3,579 individuals were preselected from 10,737 inhabitants of 9 villages of the district, of whom 2,973 (83.1%) agreed to participate. Twenty-six subjects (0.87%) were HCV antibody positive. The prevalence increased from 0.31% in subjects <10 years of age to 1.85% in those >60 years. No difference in prevalence between men and women was observed. Serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels were elevated in 30.8% (8 of 26) of anti-HCV-positive subjects compared with 3.2% (94 of 2,947) anti-HCV-negative subjects (P < .001). HCV RNA was detectable in 80.8% (95% CI, 65.6%-95.91%) of the anti-HCV-positive subjects by reverse transcription-primed polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The participants were HCV types 1b in 2 (9.5%), 3a in 8 (38.1%), 3b in 6 (28.6%), and unclassified in 5 (23.8%). Nucleotide sequencing and phylogenetic analysis assigned the unclassified type to genotype 3e. In conclusion, this study provides general population-based estimates of HCV prevalence, including genotypes, from a South Asian country. Although the prevalence of HCV infection in this population was lower than that reported from industrialized countries of the west, the total reservoir of infection is significant and calls for public health measures, including health education to limit the magnitude of the problem. (HEPATOLOGY 2003;37: 802-809.)H epatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an evolving public health problem globally. 1,2 This virus infects approximately 3% of the world population, placing approximately 170 million people at risk for developing HCV-related chronic liver disease. 3 The natural history of HCV infection is characterized by an often clinically unapparent acute phase, followed by chronic infection in over half of those infected. [4][5][6] It is an important etiologic agent for hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma and is the most common indication for liver transplantation in the United States, northern Europe, and Japan. [7][8][9][10] In the developing countries of Asia and Africa, although hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains the most common cause of chronic necroinflammatory and neoplastic liver disease, HCV is emerging rapidly as an infection warranting attention. 11 Epidemiologic assessment of the magnitude of the problem and the factors influencing HCV transmission in these countries is essential for public health planning for preventing the spread of the infection.Although a number of blood donor studies are available, 12,13 the relatively few population-based studies from the United States, 14 Europe, [15][16][17] and Egypt 18 have provided detailed information on the dynamics of HCV transmission and other facets of descriptive and analytic epidemiology of the infection. The prevalence rate as well as the significance of HCV infection varies consid...

COVID-19 is a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), caused by SARS-CoV-2, a novel virus which belongs to the family Coronaviridae. It was first reported in December 2019 in the Wuhan city of China and soon after, the virus and hence the disease got spread to the entire world. As of February 26, 2021, SARS-CoV-2 has infected ~112.20 million people and caused ~2.49 million deaths across the globe. Although the case fatality rate among SARS-CoV-2 patient is lower (~2.15%) than its earlier relatives, SARS-CoV (~9.5%) and MERS-CoV (~34.4%), the SARS-CoV-2 has been observed to be more infectious and caused higher morbidity and mortality worldwide. As of now, only the knowledge regarding potential transmission routes and the rapidly developed diagnostics has been guiding the world for managing the disease indicating an immediate need for a detailed understanding of the pathogen and the disease-biology. Over a very short period of time, researchers have generated a lot of information in unprecedented ways in the key areas, including viral entry into the host, dominant mutation, potential transmission routes, diagnostic targets and their detection assays, potential therapeutic targets and drug molecules for inhibiting viral entry and/or its replication in the host including cross-neutralizing antibodies and vaccine candidates that could help us to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In the current review, we have summarized the available knowledge about the pathogen and the disease, COVID-19. We believe that this readily available knowledge base would serve as a valuable resource to the scientific and clinical community and may help in faster development of the solution to combat the disease.

(1.25%), were also detected during this study period. Twenty two percent of specimens showed mixed infections, 38 (24%) of the total samples remained untypeable for either VP7 or VP4, while only 4 (2.5%) of the samples were untypeable for both genes. Eleven specimens collected from Manipur were also genotyped and revealed a very high degree of genomic reassortment.Group A rotaviruses are the major cause of severe dehydrating gastroenteritis among human infants and young of a wide variety of mammalian and avian species (17), and it has been estimated that nearly a million deaths occur every year (9, 20), predominantly in developing countries.Fifteen G serotypes of rotaviruses (27) are recognized, depend on the molecular characterization of VP7 (glycosylated outer capsid protein). However, G1 to G4 are the most predominant genotypes in humans. Moreover, a number of unusual genotypes, G5, G8, and G9, have also been reported recently from various countries (8). Thirteen P serotypes (22) and 21 P genotypes are recognized on the basis of VP4 (protease-sensitive outer capsid protein), but the most common P serotypes infecting humans are P1A and P1B, corresponding to the P[8] and P[4] genotypes, respectively. Although the role of VP4 protein in protective immunity is not very well established, information on G and P typing is important for identifying unusual or new virus strains circulating in different populations (19).The first human rotavirus vaccine (a human-animal tetravalent vaccine) was licensed in the United States in 1998; however, the same vaccine has not been tried extensively in other countries. Due to strain diversity in different parts of the world, knowledge of molecular epidemiology and antigenic diversity of rotaviruses in circulation is imperative for the development of a suitable, efficacious vaccine to combat rotaviral diarrhea. Therefore, in this study we report the characterization of different G and P types of rotavirus strains circulating in a particular area of India.

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a serious public health challenge in all countries. However, repercussions of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections on future global health are still being investigated, including the pandemic’s potential effect on the emergence and spread of global antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Critically ill COVID-19 patients may develop severe complications, which may predispose patients to infection with nosocomial bacterial and/or fungal pathogens, requiring the extensive use of antibiotics. However, antibiotics may also be inappropriately used in milder cases of COVID-19 infection. Further, concerns such as increased biocide use, antimicrobial stewardship/infection control, AMR awareness, the need for diagnostics (including rapid and point-of-care diagnostics) and the usefulness of vaccination could all be components shaping the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this publication, the authors present a brief overview of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated issues that could influence the pandemic’s effect on global AMR.

Three bovine group B rotavirus strains were detected from diarrheic calves during a surveillance study of rotaviral diarrhea in West Bengal, India. The sequence analysis of VP7 and NSP5 genes of these strains demonstrates a high degree of sequence variation from other group B rotavirus strains, indicating the emergence of a new genotype.