scholarly journals Clinical Features of Four West Nile Virus Cases and Its Molecular Characterization from a South Indian Tertiary Care Hospital

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Shoba Mammen ◽  
Aiswarya Nair ◽  
Santhosh Kumar ◽  
Zayina Zonderveni ◽  
A. T. Prabhakar ◽  
...  

West Nile virus (WNV) is currently a significant reemerging virus of the 21st century. It belongs to the family Flaviviridae and genus Flavivirus. Although it is primarily transmitted by the Culex spp of mosquitoes, other routes of transmission are also well defined. Of eight lineages described, Lineage 1a has been reported from many parts of South India and is known to cause neuroinvasive illness. Many tests and serological techniques have been described to diagnose WNV infection such as complement fixation, neutralization, heamagglutination inhibition, ELISA, and PCR for molecular confirmation. The latter far outweighs the limitations inherent in the other tests. WNV infection is being reported from Vellore for the first time after 1968. This paper aims to describe four cases of WNV infection causing central nervous system manifestations with its molecular characterization. West Nile virus infection was diagnosed with the available molecular techniques such as PCR and sequencing, which emphasizes the need for considering West Nile virus in the differential diagnosis of acute meningoencephalitis and the wider availability of molecular diagnostic tests.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Pradeep Kumar Mada ◽  
Philip Sneed ◽  
Gabriel Castano ◽  
Maureen Moore ◽  
Andrew Stevenson Joel Chandranesan

Context. West Nile virus (WNV) has become endemic in many states in the United States in recent years. One in 150 individuals with West Nile virus infection develops the West Nile neuroinvasive disease (WNND) and can cause permanent and sometimes fatal neurological damage. Aims. The aim of the study was to describe the presentation characteristics and epidemiology of WNND in Louisiana to improve future recognition of cases and decrease inappropriate antibiotic use. Settings and Design. It was a retrospective descriptive-analytic cohort study. A total of 23 patients with WNND were identified at one tertiary care hospital center in Northwest Louisiana from a retrospective chart review from January 1, 2012 to October 31, 2017. Results. The median age was 49 years (range: 15–75) for patients with WNND. Of 23 patients diagnosed with WNND, twelve (52%) were diagnosed with encephalitis (WNE), six (26%) were diagnosed with meningitis (WNM), and five (22%) with myelitis (WNME). The common symptoms with WNND were fever in 65%, altered mental status in 61%, headache in 52%, fatigue in 43%, gastrointestinal symptoms in 43%, rigors in 30%, imbalance in 26%, rash in 9%, and seizures in 26% of patients. Most patients presented in the late summer season. The average duration of antibiotics given was six days. The average number of days from the admission to the diagnosis of WNND was nine days (3 to 16 days). Twenty-one (91%) patients survived the infection. Conclusions. Identifying WNV infection early in its clinical course would help in decreasing inappropriate antibiotic use when patients presented with fever and meningeal symptoms. Performing WNV serology in CSF studies is critical in making the diagnosis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (12) ◽  
pp. 1198-1202
Author(s):  
Daniela Parrino ◽  
Giuseppe Brescia ◽  
Maria Vittoria Trimarchi ◽  
Giulia Tealdo ◽  
Lolita Sasset ◽  
...  

Objectives: West Nile virus (WNV) has been spreading over the last 20 years. Human infection is asymptomatic in most cases. When the disease becomes clinically manifest, it may involve a range of issues, from a mild infection with flu-like symptoms to a neuroinvasive disease. Albeit rarely, WNV-associated sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) has also been reported. Here we describe two new cases of SNHL and balance impairment caused by WNV infection. Methods: The patients were investigated with repeated audiometric tests and, for the first time, videonystagmography was also used. Results: Unlike findings in the few other published cases, an improvement in audiometric thresholds and vestibular function was documented in both of our patients. Conclusions: In the light of our findings, a prospective study would be warranted on a large series of patients with WNV infection in order: (i) to better define the epidemiology of the related cochlear-vestibular involvement; and (ii) to elucidate the virus-related changes to peripheral and central auditory and vestibular functions.


Author(s):  
Anusha P ◽  
Bankar Nandkishor J ◽  
Karan Jain ◽  
Ramdas Brahmane ◽  
Dhrubha Hari Chandi

INTRODUCTION: India being the second highly populated nation in the world. HIV/AIDS has acquired pandemic proportion in the world. Estimate by WHO for current infection rate in Asia. India has the third largest HIV epidemic in the world. HIV prevalence in the age group 15-49 yrs was an estimate of 0.2%. India has been classified as an intermediate in the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) endemic (HBsAg carriage 2-7%) zone with the second largest global pool of chronic HBV infections. Safety assessment of the blood supply, the quality of screening measures and the risk of transfusion transmitted infectious diseases (TTIs) in any country can be estimated by scrutinizing the files of blood donors. After the introduction of the blood banks and improved storage facilities, it became more extensively used. Blood is one of the major sources of TTIs like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV, syphilis, and many other blood borne diseases. Disclosure of these threats brought a dramatic change in attitude of physicians and patients about blood transfusion. The objective of this study is to determine the seroprevalence of transfusion transmitted infections amidst voluntary blood donors at a rural tertiary healthcare teaching hospital in Chhattisgarh. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study was carried out in Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College, Kachandur, Durg. Blood donors were volunteers, or and commercial donors who donated the blood and paid by patients, their families, or friends to replace blood used or expected to be used for patients from the blood bank of the hospital. After proper donation of blood routine screening of blood was carried out according to standard protocol. Laboratory diagnosis of HIV 1 and HIV 2 was carried out by ELISA test. Hepatitis B surface antigen was screened by using ELISA. RESULTS: A total of 1915 consecutive blood donors’ sera were screened at Chandulal Chandrakar Memorial Medical College, blood bank during study period. Of these 1914 were male and 1 female. The mean age of patients was found to be 29.34 years with standard deviation (SD) of 11.65 Years. Among all blood donors in present study, 759(39.63%) were first time donors and 1156(60.37%) were repeated donors. 1 patient was HIV positive in first donation group while 3 (75%) were positive in repeat donation group. 7 (38.9%) were HBsAg positive in in first donation group while 11(61.1%) were positive in repeat donation group. Two patients in first donation group had dual infection of HIV and HBsAg. CONCLUSION: Seropositivity was high in repeated donors as compared to first time donors. The incidence of HIV is observed to be 0.2% and that of HBsAg is 0.94%. Strict selection of blood donors should be done to avoid transfusion-transmissible infections during the window period.


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