Indian Journal Watch
30 October 2026
Peer-reviewed microbiology, infectious disease, AMR and infection-control papers from India and South Asia, published or added to PubMed from 28 to 29 October 2026.
Lead articles
Vaccines & zoonoses · PLOS Medicine
Immunogenicity and safety of Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) and updated Thai Red Cross (UTRC) intradermal rabies vaccine regimens among healthy adults in India: A phase 4, open label, equivalence randomised controlled trial
PLOS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1005079 · PubMed 42956084
- What
- A phase 4 equivalence randomised controlled trial from the ICMR National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai, with ICMR National Institute of Virology, Pune, and MGMCRI, Pondicherry, comparing the 1-week intradermal Institut Pasteur du Cambodge (IPC) rabies post-exposure prophylaxis regimen with the 1-month updated Thai Red Cross (UTRC) regimen, using two vaccines widely used in India: PCECV and PVRV.
- Design
- Single-centre, open-label trial in healthy adult volunteers, block randomised 1:1:1:1 to IPC (Days 0, 3, 7) or UTRC (Days 0, 3, 7, 28) with either vaccine. The primary outcome was the geometric mean concentration ratio (GMR) of rabies virus neutralising antibody (RVNA) on day 42; equivalence was predefined as the entire 95% CI lying between 0.72 and 1.04. Registered as CTRI/2023/10/058418.
- Key findings
- Between 10 October and 23 December 2023, 400 participants were randomised (100 per group); 362 (90.5%) completed the regimen and day 42 blood draw. The day 42 GMR (IPC vs UTRC) was 0.59 (95% CI: 0.47-0.75) for PCECV and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.61-0.95) for PVRV, which did not meet the equivalence criterion. All participants had RVNA titres ≥0.5 IU/ml at every assessment from day 14 to 1 year. Adverse events were similar between regimens and mostly mild.
- Limitations
- Nearly one-quarter of participants had baseline RVNA titres ≥0.5 IU/mL despite exclusion of reported prior vaccination or dog bite. Participants were healthy volunteers rather than people receiving PEP after animal bites.
- Relevance to India
- The authors state that policy decisions on replacing UTRC should weigh these immunogenicity findings together with compliance, cost and vaccine availability.
Antimicrobial resistance · International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents
MCR-Mediated Colistin Resistance Across the One Health Continuum in South Asia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents · doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2026.108051 · PubMed 42956909
- What
- A systematic review and meta-analysis, led from Pakistan, of mobilised colistin resistance (MCR) across human, animal, food and environmental sources in South Asia.
- Design
- PRISMA 2020, PROSPERO CRD420261414120. Five databases were searched without date restriction. Proportions were pooled with a random-effects binomial-normal GLMM (logit link), with a Freeman-Tukey/DerSimonian-Laird sensitivity analysis; subgroups by country, setting and publication period. Risk of bias used the JBI prevalence checklist.
- Key findings
- Thirty-four data points (7,407 isolates; 1,243 MCR-positive) from 31 studies in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India were included. Pooled MCR prevalence was 14.70% (95% CI 13.37-16.13%; I² ≈ 97.8%), and 14.94% (95% CI 7.98-23.49%) in the sensitivity analysis. Bangladesh had the highest country-level prevalence (37.34%) and India the lowest (1.68%; 95% CI 0.98-2.86%). The animal and food compartment carried higher prevalence (35.69%) than the clinical (3.87%). mcr-1 was found in 31 of 34 data points (91%), and prevalence rose over successive publication periods (odds ratio 1.10 per year, 95% CI 1.06-1.15).
- Limitations
- Very high heterogeneity (I² ≈ 97.8%) and a modest number of studies, with uneven representation across countries and compartments.
- Relevance to India
- The authors call for coordinated One Health surveillance and regulatory action on colistin use in livestock across the region.
More from the journals
Antimicrobial resistance & stewardship
- NRI Medical College, Guntur: a multidisciplinary ICU stewardship programme; empirical guideline adherence rose from 46.0% to 72.1% and antimicrobial consumption density fell by 44.0% (120.04 to 67.17 DDD/100 bed-days).Cureus · PubMed 42953638
- Amrita Institute, Kochi: community-based cross-sectional study of knowledge of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use among urban residents.BMJ Open · PubMed 42957302
- Delhi and Dehradun authors: review of 167 studies on pharmaceutical and clinical effluents driving antibiotic resistance genes and multidrug-resistant bacteria in aquatic ecosystems.Frontiers in Systems Biology · PubMed 42952981
- UPES, Dehradun: review of natural and engineered bacteriophages against multidrug-resistant ESKAPE pathogens and barriers to clinical use.Future Microbiology · PubMed 42953984
- The Neotia University, West Bengal: ciprofloxacin plus tetracycline showed an additive interaction against P. aeruginosa MTCC 424 in vitro and partially delayed mortality in a zebrafish embryo model.Antonie van Leeuwenhoek · PubMed 42955149
Vector-borne & zoonoses
- AIIMS Jodhpur: 96 of 110,687 blood cultures (0.1%) grew Brucella spp. from 62 patients (2019-2026); raw milk consumption was reported in 87%, and median time to detection was 65.8 hours, with 95% flagging within 96 hours.American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · PubMed 42956397
- CMC Vellore: case report of pulmonary brucellosis presenting as a tuberculosis mimic.BMJ Case Reports · PubMed 42957350
- Dhaka: case-control study of 435 hospitalised dengue patients (145 severe); abdominal pain (AOR 2.30), lethargy (AOR 2.70) and nausea (AOR 2.21) were associated with severe dengue.Frontiers in Public Health · PubMed 42952853
- ICMR-NIMR, New Delhi: protocol of a mixed-methods study of dengue healthcare-seeking, self-care and seropositivity in hot spots and non-hot spots of Delhi.BMJ Open · PubMed 42957296
- ICMR-NIRTH, Jabalpur: 2,167 wild mosquitoes from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh screened for Wolbachia; the primary malaria vectors An. culicifacies and An. fluviatilis tested negative.Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases · PubMed 42955857
- BHU, Varanasi: CD4+ and CD8+ memory-phenotype responses and cytokine profiles after effective treatment of visceral leishmaniasis in different transmission settings in Bihar.Frontiers in Immunology · PubMed 42953821
IPC & healthcare-associated infection
- St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru: in 698 neonates, continuous air sterilisation in a Level III NICU reduced airborne microbial burden but not any HAI (7.4% vs 9.7%; aOR 1.05, 95% CI 0.58-1.91) or new MDRO colonisation.European Journal of Pediatrics · PubMed 42955094
- AIIMS New Delhi: editorial on lung ultrasound as a bedside tool in paediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia.Indian Journal of Pediatrics · PubMed 42955651
Virology & vaccines
- CMC Vellore: West Nile virus IgG was positive in 72% and IgM in 0.20% of South Indian blood donors, with no viraemia in 100 samples tested by real-time PCR.Asian Journal of Transfusion Science · PubMed 42953589
- JIPMER, Puducherry: SARS-CoV-2 IgG seroprevalence of 82.3% among blood donors, including 51% among those neither infected nor vaccinated.Asian Journal of Transfusion Science · PubMed 42953848
- KGMU, Lucknow: COVID-19 antibody titres by age, sex, vaccination doses and prior infection in healthcare workers, with ELISA compared against ECLIA.Asian Journal of Transfusion Science · PubMed 42953565
- Khyber Medical College, Peshawar: systematic review of 16 studies (8169 participants); primary measles vaccine failure ranged from 24.2% to 90.8% across seven studies with event-level data.Tropical Medicine & International Health · PubMed 42954314
- Patuakhali Science and Technology University: concurrent low-pathogenic H9N2 avian influenza and Salmonella spp. in a poorly performing commercial layer flock in Bangladesh.Veterinary Research Communications · PubMed 42955447
- NIT Raipur: modelling of 31 Mpox intervention combinations; awareness alone was the most cost-effective policy by average cost-effectiveness ratio.Computational Biology and Chemistry · PubMed 42956507
- Sharda University: letter on point-of-care ultrasound in hepatitis B care.Journal of Viral Hepatitis · PubMed 42952276
Diagnostics
- Panjab University and GMC Chandigarh: oligoDNA-gold nanoparticle biosensors detected A. baumannii, blaOXA-23 and blaNDM directly in respiratory samples within 30 min, with a detection limit of 10³ CFU/mL.Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease · PubMed 42956625
- Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore: phage cocktail electrochemical sensor for K. pneumoniae with a detection limit of 7.36 CFU/mL.ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · PubMed 42954924
- ICAR-NDRI, Karnal: paper strip assay for L. monocytogenes in milk with penicillin G and ampicillin resistance screening; one of 70 milk samples was positive.FEMS Microbiology Letters · PubMed 42954394
Other
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.