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Introduction: Urinary tract infections are mostly treated empirically with broad-spectrum antibiotics which have resulted in development of multi-drug resistant strains. Limited options of newer antibiotics have necessitated the reintroduction of some old antimicrobial agents such as fosfomycin. Aim: To evaluate the in-vitro activity of fosfomycin against uropathogenic E.coli. Method: A total of 145 E.coli isolates were identified by conventional microbiological procedures and antimicrobial susceptibility performed by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method. They were screened for extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production and screen positives were confirmed by phenotypic confirmatory test (CLSI). Results: Out of 145 isolates, 91 (62.76 %) were found in males and 54 (37.24%) from females. Majority of the isolates were detected in the age group of 21-30 years 48.96%. A very high susceptibility of 94.48% was observed with fosfomycin. Suceptibility to tigecycline and nitrofurantoin was 87.58 % and 77.24 % respectively. Multi-drug resistance was observed in 85.51% isolates and 45.51% were ESBL producers. Conclusion: Fosfomycin showed an excellent in vitro activity against MDR and ESBL producing E.coli, therefore it should be considered as a potential therapeutic alternative in the treatment of UTI.

BackgroundOmicron, a new variant of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was first detected in November 2021. This was believed to be highly transmissible and was reported to evade immunity. As a result, an urgent need was felt to screen all positive samples so as to rapidly identify Omicron cases and isolate them to prevent the spread of infection. Genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 was planned to correlate disease severity with the genomic profile.MethodsAll the SARS-CoV-2 positive cases detected in the state of Rajasthan were sent to our Lab. Samples received from 24 November 2021 to 4 January 2022 were selected for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). Processing was done as per protocol on the Ion Torrent S5 System for 1,210 samples and bioinformatics analysis was done.ResultsAmong the 1,210 samples tested, 762 (62.9%) were Delta/Delta-like and other lineages, 291 (24%) were Omicron, and 157 (12.9%) were invalid or repeat samples. Within a month, the proportion of Delta and other variants was reversed, 6% Omicron became 81%, and Delta and other variants became 19%, initially all Omicron cases were seen in international travelers and their contacts but soon community transmission was seen. The majority of patients with Omicron were asymptomatic (56.7%) or had mild disease (33%), 9.2% had moderate symptoms, and two (0.7%) had severe disease requiring hospitalization, of which one (0.3%) died and the rest were (99.7%) recovered. History of vaccination was seen in 81.1%, of the previous infection in 43.2% of cases. Among the Omicron cases, BA.1 (62.8%) was the predominant lineage followed by BA.2 (23.7%) and B.1.529 (13.4%), rising trends were seen initially for BA.1 and later for BA.2 also. Although 8.9% of patients with Delta lineage during that period were hospitalized, 7.2% required oxygen, and 0.9% died. To conclude, the community spread of Omicron occurred in a short time and became the predominant circulating variant; BA.1 was the predominant lineage detected. Most of the cases with Omicron were asymptomatic or had mild disease, and the mortality rate was very low as compared to Delta and other lineages.

Colophospermum mopane (mopane) forms mono-dominant woodlands covering extensive areas of southern Africa. Mopane provides a staple foodstuff for elephants, who hedge woodland by reducing trees to small trees or shrubs, leaving emergent trees which are too large to be pollarded. Emergent trees are important for supporting faunal biodiversity, but they can be killed by ringbarking. This study first examined the influence of elephant density on woodland transformation and the height distribution of canopy volume, and, second, whether canopy volume is maintained, and tall emergent trees too large to be broken can persist, under chronic elephant utilisation. Three regimes of 0.23, 0.59 and 2.75 elephants km−2 differed in vegetation structure and the height structure of trees. Areas under the highest elephant density supported the lowest total canopy volume owing to less canopy for plants >3 m in height, shorter trees, loss of most trees 6–10 m in height, but trees >10 m in height (>45 cm stem diameter) persisted. Under eight years of chronic utilisation by elephants, transformed mopane woodland maintained its plant density and canopy volume. Plant density was greatest for the 0–1 m height class, whereas the 3.1–6 m height class provided the bulk of canopy volume, and the 1.1–3 m height layer contained the most canopy volume. Emergent trees (>10 m in height) suffered a loss of 1.4% per annum as a result of debarking. Canopy dieback of emergent trees increased conspicuously when more than 50% of a stem was debarked, and such trees could be toppled by windthrow before being ringbarked. Thus relict emergent trees will slowly be eliminated but will not be replaced whilst smaller trees are being maintained in a pollarded state. Woodland transformation has not markedly reduced canopy volume available to elephants, but the slow attrition of emergent trees may affect supported biota, especially cavity-dependent vertebrate species, making use of these trees.

Introduction: Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) is defined as chronic inflammation of the middle ear and mastoid mucosa with recurrent discharge (at least 2 weeks) through a perforated tympanic membrane. The study was undertaken to see microbiological profile and antibiotic susceptibility pattern in chronic suppurative otitis media patients in a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out in the ENT and Microbiology department at a tertiary care government teaching hospital, from June 2021 to May 2022. Ear discharge samples from 100 clinically diagnosed chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) patients were collected and processed. Microbial isolates were identified and drug susceptibility testing was conducted using Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. Results: Among 100 patients included in the study, Staphylococcus aureus (S aureus) (44/100, 44%) was the predominant isolate followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P aeruginosa) (36/100, 36%). All isolates of S aureus were susceptible to Vancomycin, Tigecycline, and Linezolid (100%). Susceptibility of 100% was observed with Colistin and Piperacillin-Tazobactum among P aeruginosa isolates. All isolates of Klebsiella spp and Enterobacter aerogenes showed multi-drug resistance while 88.90% Escherichia coli, 77.27% S aureus, and 19.44% P aeruginosa were multi-drug resistant (MDR). Multi-drug resistance was not observed among Proteus mirabilis isolates. Conclusion: A continuous and periodic evaluation of microbiological pattern of CSOM and antimicrobial susceptibility of isolates is necessary for forming the basis of empirical treatment which shall aid in decreasing the potential risk of complications.