Indian Journal Watch
2 November 2026
Peer-reviewed microbiology, infectious disease, AMR and infection-control papers from India and South Asia, published or added to PubMed from 31 October to 1 November 2026.
Lead articles
Vector-borne & zoonoses · Virology · World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics
Etiological spectrum of acute encephalitis syndrome in children in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis
World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics · doi:10.5409/wjcp.121910 · PubMed 42964460
- What
- A systematic review and meta-analysis from AIIMS Rishikesh and the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences, Dehradun, estimating the pooled proportion of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) cases attributable to common infectious aetiologies among children aged 18 years or younger in India.
- Design
- PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE and Scopus were searched for studies published between January 2000 and December 2025. Studies conducted in India that included at least 25 children (≤ 18 years) with AES and reported laboratory-confirmed aetiologies were eligible; case reports and small case series were excluded. Quality was assessed with the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist, and a random-effects model was used to obtain pooled estimates with 95% confidence intervals.
- Key findings
- A total of 69 studies were included. Scrub typhus emerged as the most common cause, accounting for 20% (95%CI: 13%-27%) of AES cases, followed by Japanese encephalitis (JE) at 13% (95%CI: 11%-15%). Enterovirus accounted for 6% of the cases (95%CI: 3%-9%). Dengue, herpes simplex virus and Epstein-Barr virus accounted for 5% of the cases each, and mumps and chikungunya virus for 4% each.
- Limitations
- The pooled proportions depend on the diagnostic methods used in the included studies; the authors note that broader diagnostic methods, including molecular techniques, may improve diagnostic yield.
- Relevance to India
- The authors conclude that scrub typhus and JE are the leading identifiable aetiologies of paediatric AES in India, whereas JE has traditionally been regarded as the leading cause.
Diagnostics · Vector-borne & zoonoses · Cureus
Diagnostic Discordance Between IgM Serology and TSA-56 Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for Detecting Scrub Typhus Among Patients With Acute Undifferentiated Febrile Illness in Western Odisha
Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.117277 · PubMed 42967110
- What
- An observational study from Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital (BBMCH), Balangir, and Maharaja Jajati Keshari Medical College, Jajpur, Odisha, evaluating scrub typhus (Orientia tsutsugamushi) among patients with acute undifferentiated febrile illness (AUFI) in Western Odisha and the discordance between IgM serology and TSA-56 real-time PCR (qPCR).
- Design
- 397 febrile patients presenting to the Medicine and Pediatrics outpatient departments were enrolled. Serum was tested by IgM immunochromatographic test (ICT) and IgM ELISA; EDTA blood underwent column-based DNA extraction and a commercial TSA-56 qPCR assay. Complete blood counts were also evaluated.
- Key findings
- Positivity was 16.8% (67/397) by IgM ICT and 19.64% (78/397) by IgM ELISA. TSA-56 qPCR was positive in 37 of 178 tested samples (20.78%). Among samples evaluated by both methods, 12/257 (4.6%) ELISA-negative samples were qPCR-positive, whereas 6/78 (7.7%) ELISA-positive samples were qPCR-negative. Positive patients had a higher mean white blood cell count (9.94 ± 3.93 vs. 7.77 ± 3.57 × 10³/µL; p = 0.002) and lower mean platelet count (160.30 ± 87.64 vs. 220.31 ± 107.88 × 10³/µL; p = 0.001).
- Limitations
- Single-centre study; qPCR was performed on only 178 of the 397 enrolled patients.
- Relevance to India
- The authors suggest that reliance on serology alone may miss some infections, particularly during early illness, and that a combined diagnostic approach may provide more comprehensive case detection in endemic clinical settings.
More from the journals
Antimicrobial resistance & stewardship
- University of Dhaka: among 63 E. coli isolates from poultry, dairy and aquaculture environments in Cumilla, Bangladesh, MDR prevalence was 78.79% in poultry vs. 25% in cattle farms, and resistance to ciprofloxacin (55.54%) was most common.International Journal of Microbiology · PubMed 42964609
- ISF College of Pharmacy, Moga, Punjab: narrative review of SGLT2 inhibitor-associated genitourinary infections, antimicrobial-antidiabetic drug interactions, pharmacovigilance and antimicrobial stewardship.Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice · PubMed 42966404
- Coimbatore, Chennai and Bhubaneswar authors: review of AI-assisted MALDI-TOF, Raman, FTIR and other spectral methods for rapid microbial identification and AMR prediction.Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease · PubMed 42966285
- BCSIR and Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh: review of agr quorum sensing, biofilm plasticity and anti-virulence strategies in Staphylococcus aureus.Archives of Microbiology · PubMed 42965712
- BARC Kalpakkam: the biofilm-associated protein Bap confers matrix compliance rather than stiffness in S. aureus biofilms, and calcium modulates this Bap-dependent phenotype.Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces · PubMed 42966091
Tuberculosis
- Tamil Nadu and Northern Ireland authors: cross-sectional comparison of adenosine deaminase (ADA) and GeneXpert/PCR on 77 pleural and ascitic fluid samples for extrapulmonary TB.Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care · PubMed 42964874
- New Delhi: case of isolated TB of the second metacarpal (spina ventosa) in a five-year-old girl without pulmonary involvement, confirmed by cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification testing.Cureus · PubMed 42966948
Vector-borne & zoonoses
- Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar: case of cerebral malaria caused solely by Plasmodium vivax in a 16-year-old boy in Pakistan.Iranian Journal of Child Neurology · PubMed 42964434
- Amity University Noida, CCS HAU Hisar and CSIR-NCL Pune: first biochemical characterisation of P. falciparum PfHDDCP as a HotDog-domain acyl-CoA thioesterase, inhibited in vitro by artemisinin derivatives.Molecular Biology Reports · PubMed 42965585
Virology & vaccines
- icddr,b, Dhaka: in 120 Bangladeshi adults, a single dose of Shanchol oral cholera vaccine induced immune responses comparable to the two-dose regimen, including IgA memory B cell responses to V. cholerae O1 LPS.International Journal of Infectious Diseases · PubMed 42966445
- AIIMS New Delhi: tRNA-derived fragments either promote or inhibit dengue virus replication through modulation of the PI3K pathway.NAR Molecular Medicine · PubMed 42966947
- ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune: narrative review of post-measles complications in children under five in LMICs, where 30-40% of measles cases develop complications.Annals of Global Health · PubMed 42965144
- IHBAS New Delhi and PGIMER Chandigarh: case of adenovirus meningoencephalitis in an immunocompetent adolescent girl, diagnosed by cerebrospinal fluid RT-PCR.Tropical Doctor · PubMed 42965415
Mycology
- Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi: coexisting cerebral phaeohyphomycosis and CNS tuberculosis in an immunocompetent 10-year-old child initially treated as CNS TB.World Journal of Clinical Pediatrics · PubMed 42964715
- Government Erode Medical College, Tamil Nadu: critical review and exposure modelling of antifungal therapy for small intestinal fungal overgrowth (SIFO); no antifungal regimen has validated efficacy for this construct.Archives of Microbiology · PubMed 42965713
Clinical infectious diseases
- PGIMER Chandigarh: among 100 adults with undifferentiated prolonged fever in the emergency department, infections (37%, predominantly TB) were the commonest aetiology and 25 patients (25%) died in hospital.Turkish Journal of Emergency Medicine · PubMed 42965213
- Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi: Pandoraea species bacteraemia in a seven-day-old neonate, initially identified as Burkholderia cepacia, with reduced susceptibility to meropenem and ceftazidime.Cureus · PubMed 42964975
- Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad: emphysematous pyelonephritis presenting with meteorism as a mimic of acute surgical abdomen.Tropical Doctor · PubMed 42965414
- AIIMS Raipur: Mycoplasma pneumoniae-induced mucositis and conjunctivitis without skin rash in a 37-year-old woman.Tropical Doctor · PubMed 42965413
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.