Indian Journal Watch
3 November 2026
Peer-reviewed microbiology, infectious disease, AMR and infection-control papers from India and South Asia, published or added to PubMed from 1 to 2 November 2026.
Lead articles
Antimicrobial resistance & stewardship · IPC & healthcare-associated infection · Lung India
Seven versus 14 days of polymyxin-based therapy for ventilator-associated pneumonia due to carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii : A randomised feasibility trial
Lung India · doi:10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_293_26 · PubMed 42969594
- What
- A randomised feasibility trial from the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Pulmonary Medicine, PGIMER Chandigarh, with AIIMS Nagpur, comparing 7-day versus 14-day polymyxin-based therapy for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) due to carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB).
- Design
- Single-centre, open-label trial in a tertiary-care respiratory ICU from March 2017 to October 2024. Patients with microbiologically confirmed CRAB-VAP who met predefined clinical stability criteria on day 7 were randomised 1:1 to stop antibiotics on day 7 or continue for 14 days. Treatment comprised intravenous colistin or polymyxin B with adjunctive nebulised colistin. The primary outcome was relapse of CRAB-VAP.
- Key findings
- 41 patients were randomised (7-day n = 22; 14-day n = 19). Relapse occurred in 1 (4.5%) versus 2 (10.5%) patients (risk ratio [RR] 0.43; 95% CI: 0.04, 4.31). The 7-day group had more antibiotic-free days (mean difference: 6.9 days; 95% CI: 5.1, 8.7 days). Acute kidney injury occurred in 0% versus 31.6% (RR 0.07; 95% CI: 0.004, 1.15). 28-day mortality was 45.5 vs 63.2% (RR 0.72; 95% CI: 0.40, 1.30).
- Limitations
- Small, single-centre, open-label feasibility design; the authors state that clinical outcome estimates, including relapse and mortality, were imprecise and should be interpreted as hypothesis-generating.
- Relevance to India
- The authors conclude that a 7-day discontinuation strategy was feasible in clinically improving CRAB-VAP and that the findings support evaluation in larger, adequately powered multicentre trials.
Tuberculosis · Diagnostics · PLOS ONE
Clinical and laboratory determinants of treatment response and rifampicin resistance among Xpert MTB/RIF-confirmed extrapulmonary tuberculosis patients: A prospective study from Central India
PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0361115 · PubMed 42970549
- What
- A prospective observational study from R D Gardi Medical College, Ujjain, evaluating early clinical response to therapy and factors associated with rifampicin resistance among patients with Xpert MTB/RIF-confirmed extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in central India.
- Design
- Conducted at a tertiary care centre between 2018 and 2024. Baseline demographic, clinical and laboratory data were collected; clinical response at 8 weeks was assessed using standardised criteria, and multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with slow clinical response and rifampicin resistance.
- Key findings
- Of 5,764 presumptive EPTB samples tested by Xpert MTB/RIF, 532 patients had confirmed EPTB. Rifampicin resistance was detected in 36 patients (6.7%). Among 496 rifampicin-sensitive patients, 113 (22.8%) showed slow clinical response, independently associated with HIV co-infection, diabetes mellitus, malnutrition, COPD, prolonged symptom duration, non-lymph node disease (particularly abdominal and genitourinary TB), rural residence, lower educational status and elevated ESR and CRP. Rifampicin resistance was associated with previous TB, HIV infection, male sex and disseminated disease, and was more frequent among slow responders than responders (12.3% vs. 4.1%, p = 0.002).
- Limitations
- Single tertiary centre; the abstract reports response at 8 weeks only and does not report final treatment outcomes.
- Relevance to India
- The authors state that the overlap between slow clinical response and drug resistance highlights the importance of early molecular diagnostics and targeted clinical monitoring in high-risk patients.
More from the journals
Antimicrobial resistance & stewardship
- R R College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru: among 300 hospitalised patients given empirical antibiotics, 47.3% were culture-positive (mainly Gram-negative), empirical therapy was judged suitable in 75.7% and appropriate de-escalation occurred in 71%.Indian Journal of Pharmacology · PubMed 42969986
- IGIMS Patna and RIMS Ranchi: of 200 emergency department adults on empirical antibiotics, 70.0% underwent de-escalation and 30.0% required escalation; carbapenems and β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations were most often prescribed.Annals of African Medicine · PubMed 42969372
- Rajshahi University, Bangladesh: vancomycin covalently conjugated to silica-coated magnetic nanoparticles for magnetic capture of bacteria, with cell-wall disruption visualised by FESEM within 4 hours.Journal of Materials Chemistry B · PubMed 42969842
Tuberculosis & leprosy
- Era’s Lucknow Medical College: review of emerging WHO-recommended TB diagnostic technologies beyond sputum smear and their relevance to India.Lung India · PubMed 42969585
- ICMR-RMRC Bhubaneswar and WHO Country Office: mixed-methods protocol to develop and validate a health literacy intervention for newly diagnosed TB patients with multimorbidity in India.National Medical Journal of India · PubMed 42970516
- Karachi (MALC) with LSTM and DAHW: qualitative evaluation (n = 17) of a participatory storytelling intervention on stigma and empowerment among persons affected by leprosy in Pakistan.PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases · PubMed 42970608
- Shri Guru Ram Rai University, Dehradun: borderline lepromatous leprosy with erythema nodosum leprosum in a 40-year-old woman, clinically misdiagnosed as Sweet syndrome and diagnosed on skin biopsy.Tropical Doctor · PubMed 42968279
Diagnostics
- ICMR-NIRBI Kolkata: in paediatric diarrhoeal stools, overall pathogen detection was 81% with the GastroFinder 2SMART multiplex real-time PCR versus 43.1% with conventional methods.PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases · PubMed 42970611
- NIMHANS Bengaluru: the Quantiplus Rabies Virus Detection Kit showed 100% sensitivity and specificity against DFAT on 24 human and 44 animal post-mortem brain samples.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968762
Virology & vaccines
- CMH Multan: 10-year WHO FluNet analysis for Pakistan (2015-2024) showing influenza B rising from 5.7% pre-COVID-19 to 22.5% post-COVID-19, with A(H1N1)pdm09 regaining dominance (58.8%).Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses · PubMed 42968498
- Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur: explainable XGBoost model (AUC-ROC 0.838) forecasting district-level measles outbreak risk in Bangladesh for 2024-2028.BMC Infectious Diseases · PubMed 42967980
- Gandhi Medical College, Bhopal: multiplex real-time PCR study of acute respiratory viral infections from July to October 2025, with RSV and adenovirus most prevalent in children.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968770
- DRDE Gwalior: isolation and genome characterisation of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant Omicron XBB.1.16 from a clinical sample collected in central India in early 2023.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968843
- ICAR-NIVEDI Bengaluru: codon usage analysis of 114 complete coding sequences differentiating swine-associated hepatitis E virus genotypes A3 and A4.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968846
- University of Calcutta: hepatitis B virus pregenomic RNA-based minigene transcripts use the PTB-regulated NXF1-NXT1 nuclear export pathway.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968809
- PGIMER Chandigarh and CSJM University Kanpur: review of chikungunya virus non-structural proteins as antiviral targets.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968833
- Assam down town University, Guwahati: updated review of mpox virology, epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment and prevention.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968714
Vector-borne & zoonoses
- University of Kashmir: in silico prediction of drug candidates and B and T cell epitopes against Chandipura virus.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968864
- Sharda University, Greater Noida: virtual screening and molecular dynamics identify phytochemical inhibitors of the Nipah virus nucleocapsid protein.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968816
- University of Allahabad and IIIT Allahabad: structure-based drug repurposing suggests saquinavir as a potential inhibitor of the Bhanja virus nucleoprotein.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968775
- ICAR-NIFMD Bhubaneswar: FmdNspPred, a cut-off-independent machine learning model for predicting foot-and-mouth disease virus exposure from 2B NSP-ELISA data on Indian bovine sera.VirusDisease · PubMed 42968730
Mycology
- AIIMS Raipur: ICU-acquired candidaemia in 55/1128 (4.88%) septic patients; non-albicans species predominated (81.8%), led by C. parapsilosis (30.9%), with overall mortality 23.6%.Annals of African Medicine · PubMed 42969318
- Sir H. N. Reliance Foundation Hospital, Mumbai: case-control study (139 cases, 259 controls, 2016-2023) linking candidaemia to inotropes, isolation and total parenteral nutrition for more than five days (aOR 3.70).Cureus · PubMed 42968780
Clinical infectious diseases & IPC
- Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana: among 203 adults hospitalised with acute viral hepatitis, HAV caused 83.3%, acute liver failure occurred in 27.6%, and all 11 deaths (5.4%) were in the ALF group.Annals of African Medicine · PubMed 42969369
- NIT Calicut and Pondicherry University: mannose-graphene oxide/PVA/carbon dot hybrid coatings for urinary catheters showed 77.57% antibiofilm inhibition.Journal of Materials Chemistry B · PubMed 42969153
- Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru: knockdown of three regulatory factors (CEBPB, NFE2L2, BCL3) shifts macrophage polarisation from M1 to M2 and increases susceptibility to Staphylococcus aureus infection.eLife · PubMed 42970453
Items are summaries of published abstracts and are not clinical advice. Readers should consult the original article. Figures are quoted as reported in each abstract.