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By systematic sampling method from a list of patients, 100 cases who completed 6 months MDT (PB) and under 1 year suvelliance, were included in the study. Fifty-nine percent of PB cases remained active after completion of WHO MDT. Patients with 4 or more than 4 lesions showed more activity. After 1 year of surveillance, 20.3% of active cases remained active. Moreover, 7.3% of inactive cases becomes active during course of 1 year surveillance.

The present study was taken up to find the incidence of Australia antigen (HbsAg) in patients having sexually transmitted diseases (STD). One hundred patients attending an urban STD clinic in a medical college in Calcutta were considered for evaluation. Study revealed that the highest number of patients in this series belong to 21-30 years of age group. Male (88%) outnumbered female (12%). Seventy percent were from lower income group. Majority of the cases (95%) had extramarital contact and community sex workers were the main source of infection (78%). Majority of the cases were heterosexual. Only 3% were homosexual and 2% were bisexual. Most of the patiens (83%) had multiple exposures. Four patients and one spouse of the patient had history of jaundice in the recent past but none of them was HbsAg positive. In the present study, the incidence of HbsAg in patients was found to be 6 percent. All these patients were heterosexual and had no past history of STD.

Introduction: Mitomycin C is gaining widespread popularity as an adjunctive with trabeculectomy, as it significantly increases the success rate of the procedure. But it is associated with serious sight-threatening complications., Materials and Methods: Twenty eyes planned for trabeculectomy from the glaucoma clinic were enrolled for the study after obtaining an informed consent. The baseline impression cytology was taken. Ten eyes underwent trabeculectomy with mitomycin C (Group A) and the rest underwent trabeculectomy without any antimetabolites (Group B). Impression cytology samples were taken on months 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12., Results: In Group A, the difference between goblet cell density preoperatively and 12 month postoperatively was statistically significant (p less than 0.0001). In Group B, the difference was not statistically significant. (p = 0.27)., Conclusion: Mitomycin C, though used to augment the success rate of trabeculectomy, has deleterious effect on the conjunctival goblet cell population as is evident from the conjunctival impression cytology., (© NEPjOPH.)

Background & Objective: The risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection in patients with visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar in endemic areas has posed a major challenge in control programmes. We undertook this study to identify the high risk groups vulnerable to Leishmania-HIV co-infection in VL endemic State of Bihar, India. Further, immunological responses were also evaluated in these patients before and after treatment for VL to see the immune impairment associated with CD4 T cell count., Methods: A total of 1511 subjects attending Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCTC) at Patna, Bihar were included in this study. VL was confirmed by splenic or bone marrow aspirates testing for parasite. HIV states was confirmed by two kits. Immunological parameters (CD4, CD8, IFN-gamma, IL-4) were studied in co-infection patients., Results: Of the 280 (18.53%) HIV-positive individuals, eight were diagnosed serologically and pathologically as VL patients co-infected with HIV. The humoral and cellular immune responses were evaluated in 18 Indian VL patients with (n = 8) or without HIV (n = 10) and 10 HIV seropositive subjects. Among the eight confirmed cases of VL, false negative direct agglutination test (DAT) result was observed in two who had HIV co-infection (sensitivity 80%), while none in 10 other VL cases who were HIV negative (sensitivity 100%). A very low CD4 cell count was observed in VL cases that had HIV co-infection compared to HIV negative VL or controls. All VL cases with or without HIV infection had lower Th1/Th2 ratio compared to controls. VL patients with or without HIV infection responded well to anti-leishmanial/anti-retroviral therapy with considerable degree of immunological reconstitution., Interpretation & Conclusion: A different immune response was noticed in patients with co-infection of HIV and Leishmania. Anti-leishmanial drug treatment led to improvement in immunological response in co-infected patients. Further studies need to be done to see the effect of combined therapy for VL and HIV on immunological parameters in these patients.