Background and Aims: There was a global influenza A pandemic in the year 2009. For this emerging infectious disease, Government of India in the year 2009 developed a training tool kit to train health care professionals for the pandemic preparedness. We present the impact of standardized training program on awareness of medical students to manage a case of influenza A (H1N1). Materials and Methods: A pre-post intervention study was designed and implemented. Before the implementation of intervention package, a baseline questionnaire was developed and administered to 179 medical students of first, second, and third semester. Training program was delivered in three batches. Each batch was given three days training. After completion of the training program, the questionnaire was re-administered. Results: The mean age of study participants was 19.2 years (SD = ΁2.3 years). Ninety-seven (45%) of the participants were female. The mean score in the pre appraisal was 6.3, which increased to 8.7 after the training component (gain index 24 %). There was a significant increase in number of medical students having "very good knowledge" (64%) and "good knowledge" (34%) after the intervention package. Conclusion: There was a significant improvement in the awareness of medical students following a training program. It is recommended that such programs should be held at regular intervals, as measure for preparedness for emerging disease outbreaks.

Background and Aims: Since 1959, treatment of infections caused by S. aureus included semi synthetic penicillin drugs such as Methicillin. Sooner a year later in 1960 Methicillin resistant S. aureus came into existence. Decade after decade the MRSA strains increased and these bacteria were marked as major cause of nosocomial infections in early 1980s. The invasion of MRSA into community is now day's matter of concern for microbiologist. This study was conducted to detect the prevalence of MRSA resistance and to prepare antibiogram of HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA isolates at our hospital. Materials and Methods: A total of 201 staphylococcus isolates were detected as MRSA. They were then separated into two categories i.e. community acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) and hospital acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) according prescribed criteria. Antibiogram was prepared by Kirby- Bauer disk diffusion method. Results: Out of 201 isolates, HA-MRSA prevalence was 143(28.6%) and CA-MRSA was 58(11.6%). The HA-MRSA isolates showed were 10- 30% more resistant when compared to CA-MRSA. All isolates were 100 % sensitive to Vancomycin and Linezolid. Conclusion: We strongly suggest that time to time monitoring of MRSA should be done and proper hand wash must be done to avoid spread of MRSA.

The presence of chronic infections in patients with respiratory diseases has led to an increased interest in inhaled antibiotics. Their utility has been demonstrated in cystic fibrosis (CF) and extended their use to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and non-CF bronchiectasis (BE). We have seen a development of new inhaled formulations and nebulizers in the last years. The main objective is to reduce the airway bacterial load, symptoms and the rate and severity of exacerbations. Actual BE guidelines recommend inhaled antibiotics when a patient has 3 or more exacerbations per year. Recent meta-analysis shows an overall benefit for BE patients with inhaled antibiotics. Nowadays, there are different nebulizer systems such as ultrasonic nebulization, "jet" nebulizer, and vibrating mesh system. In addition, there are several antibiotic formulations for nebulization and some dry powder formulations. We review the current evidence available for inhaled antibiotics in BE patients and the systems designed for the inhalation of antibiotics.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. "Severe CAP'' (sCAP) identifies a group of patients who have severe disease and require Intensive Care Unit admission. Recommendations for antibiotic treatment for sCAP are based on illness severity, frequency of specific pathogens and local microbial resistance patterns. The challenges to patient management include the emergence of the high prevalence of multidrug-resistant in CAP, mainly from institutionalizing patients. A new approach is the evaluation of biomarkers as C-reactive protein, procalcitonin on the diagnosis, prognosis and therapy duration of sCAP with promising results . Implementation of guidelines for CAP treatment should be emphasized in order to increase survival. The benefits of steroid use in patients with severe pneumonia have not been proven yet by current literature.

Background and Aims: Escherichia coli is the most common etiological agent in both community acquired and hospital acquired urinary tract infections. Emergence of multidrug resistance (MDR) among E. coli isolates is quite alarming. The aim of this study was to define the current prevalence of MDR and extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) production among E. coli isolates from urine samples in our hospital. Materials and Methods: Urine samples from 1225 patients were processed for wet mount followed by culture and sensitivity. All the samples were inoculated on to Hi Media Hi chrome agar plates (HiMedia Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India) and growth showing significant bacteriuria (≥10 ⁵ cfu/ml) were further identified by the standard biochemical procedures and antibiotic sensitivity done as per Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Detection of ESBL was done by the combined disc method. Percentage of antibiotic resistance and sensitivity and Chi-square test were used. Results: Out of 1225 samples processed, significant bacterial isolates were obtained in 357 (29.1%). The total number of E. coli isolated were 179 (50.1%) of which multidrug resistant E. coli isolates were 148 (82.6%) and 71 (39.66%) were ESBL producers. High degree of resistance was observed to amoxycillin (93.2%) and amoxycillin-clavulanic acid (90.5%). More than 80% sensitivity was seen only to imipenem (98.4%), amikacin (83.3%) and nitrofurantoin (86.6%). Conclusion: Multidrug resistant strains of E. coli are widely prevalent in the community. Antibiotics like imipenem require hospitalization, parenteral administration, drug monitoring for toxicity, all of which incur high cost to the patient and have to be used judiciously.