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Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease of the upper respiratory system caused by toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Global casefatality rate (CFR) is estimated at 5%-10%; higher CFRs of up to [...]

Introduction: High blood pressure (BP) is one of the most common chronic medical problems prompting visits to primary health-care providers. The incidence of lifestyle diseases over the years has shown an upward trend in developing countries too, which is a cause of grave concern for the health care professionals. Research suggests that undesirable body composition has a major bearing on health, fitness and lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, ischemic heart disease, and diabetes. Study: The aim of the study was to compare the body composition of hypertensive patients with normal subjects using state of the art impedance based noninvasive body composition analyzer. The study evaluated the body composition of hypertensive patients and compared the same with subjects with normal BP. The study was carried out at a tertiary care hospital in Pune. Body composition variables considered for the study were anthropometry, percent body fat, lean body mass, fat distribution, and visceral fat composition. Results: The analysis of body fat included obesity degree, visceral fat area (VFA), body fat mass, and percent body fat. The mean body fat mass was found to be 21.7Kg. The mean percent Body Fat was 28.9%, which was much higher than the normal. Various parameters depicting body fat were compared. All of them, namely body fat mass, percent body fat, obesity degree, and VFA were found to be significantly higher in hypertensives as compared to the other group. Conclusion: Besides other anthropometric parameters, assessment of VFA may be included as an essential measure to assess and even predict hypertension. Those with high VFA must be monitored closely for developing hypertension and other lifestyle diseases.

Background: An outbreak of food poisoning occurred among recruits in a training establishment. Investigation of outbreak was undertaken with active preventive interventions concurrently to arrest the current outbreak as well as to avoid such incidents in future. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was undertaken among all recruits, regardless of presence or absence of symptoms. The risk ratios (relative risks) and attributable risks were calculated for each food item of the suspected meal to assess the association between consumption of individual food items and subsequent illness. An environmental survey was undertaken to investigate into the course of food processing and storage facilities at trainees' galley (cookhouse) and other relevant eating establishments. Results: A total of 494 recruits reported with symptoms of gastroenteritis in a span of 3 days. Of those affected, only 9 were admitted and rest recovered with treatment on OPD basis. The overall attack rate was 22.9%. No deaths were reported. It was a classical point source, single exposure gastroenteritis outbreak. When food histories and sickness histories were analyzed, the attributable risk (24.17) and relative risk (5.11) were highest for the “Flavoured milk,” which was an outsourced item. The statistical findings were substantiated with environmental and epidemiological evidence. Conclusion: Epidemiological investigation incriminated dinner of the previous day as the meal responsible for the outbreak with flavored milk as the most attributable food item.