The history of the research of neuroinfections in the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Imperial Medical Surgical (Military Medical) Academy

The article presents the history of the research of neuroinfections at the Nervous Diseases Department of the Imperial Medical Surgical Academy, later the Military Medical Academy, from 1860 until nowadays. One of the outstanding achievements of Russian and world medicine in the twentieth century, constituting an entire era in neurology and virology, was the comprehensive study of tick-borne encephalitis by Aleksandr Gavrilovich Panov. He made a huge contribution to the research of this infection: Clinic of spring-summer encephalitis (1938) the first journal article in the world literature on the clinical aspects of tick-borne encephalitis; the first Ph.D. thesis on the clinical picture of tick-borne encephalitis was successfully defended by A.G. Panov on February 20, 1939 under the leadership of A.V. Triumfov; the first monograph on tick-borne encephalitis and other encephalitis Seasonal summer encephalitis (Vladivostok, 1940) also belongs to A.G. Panov. The results of the research of tick-borne encephalitis in 19341949 became the subject of a doctoral dissertation, defended on December 8, 1951. In 1956, the classic monograph by A.G. Panov Tick-borne encephalitis was published. At the end of XX and beginning of XXI centuries research work in the field of neuroinfection expanded, studies were carried out in various directions, including neuropathology of herpesvirus, alteration of the nervous system in botulism, acute demyelinating polyneuropathies, neuropathology of chlamydial infection, neuroborreliosis, neuropathology of infective endocarditis, alteration of the blood-brain barrier in meningitis, treatment of neuroinfectious diseases. For more than a century and a half, the staff of the Department of Nervous Diseases of the Imperial Medical Surgical (Military Medical) Academy have created and laid the foundation for the doctrine of neuroinfections for numerous followers, as well as the modern generation of neurologists and doctors of related specialties (bibliography: 10 refs)

Linear trends over 20 years in sexually transmitted infections among patients attending a tertiary care center in north Kerala, India

Background: Worldwide, a declining trend is observed in sexually transmitted infections of bacterial origin which is reflected as a rise in the proportion of viral sexually transmitted infections. Aims: To find out the clinical referral patterns of sexually transmitted infections among patients who attended the sexually transmitted infection clinic attached to Dermatology and Venereology Department of Government Medical College, Kozhikode from 1.1.1998 to 31.12.2017 and to study the linear trends in the pattern of sexually transmitted infections over 20 years. Methods: After clearance from the institutional ethics committee, a retrospective study was conducted among patients who attended the sexually transmitted infection clinic of Government Medical College, Kozhikode from 1.1.1998 to 31.12.2017 and were diagnosed to have sexually transmitted infections. Results: During the 20 year study period 5227 patients, attended the sexually transmitted infection clinic of our institution. Diagnosis of sexually transmitted infection was made in 2470 (47.3%) cases. Predominant sexually transmitted infections were herpes genitalis (964, 39%), condyloma acuminata (921, 37.9%) and syphilis (418, 17.2%). Viral sexually transmitted infections (1885, 76.3%) outnumbered bacterial sexually transmitted infections (575, 23.3%). A declining trend was noted for both bacterial and viral sexually transmitted infections over the 20 year period, which was more marked for the former. But the latter years of the study documented a rising trend in total sexually transmitted infections including bacterial sexually transmitted infections. Limitations: The study does not reflect the status of sexually transmitted infections in the general population since it was conducted in a tertiary referral center. Conclusion: The disturbing ascending trend recorded in sexually transmitted infections including syphilis during the final years of the 20-year period needs to be watched closely, to plan future strategies.