Indian Journal Watch
31 October 2026
Peer-reviewed microbiology, infectious disease, AMR and infection-control papers from India and South Asia, published or added to PubMed from 29 to 31 October 2026.
Lead articles
IPC & healthcare-associated infection · Critical Care
Chlorhexidine within a standardized oral-care bundle for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia: a pragmatic cluster-randomized crossover trial in six medical intensive care units
Critical Care · doi:10.1186/s13054-026-06217-0 · PubMed 42958418
- What
- A pragmatic cluster-randomised crossover trial from IMS and SUM Hospital, Bhubaneswar, testing whether adding 0.12% chlorhexidine (CHX) to a standardised oral-care bundle gives incremental benefit in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in medical intensive care units.
- Design
- Prospective AB/BA crossover trial in six adult medical ICUs of a single tertiary-care academic hospital. ICUs were randomised to the multicomponent oral-care bundle with or without 0.12% CHX for 9-month periods, with a 1-month wash-in and re-training interval. Consecutive adults ventilated for ≥ 48 h were included. The primary outcome was VAP incidence density (CPIS > 6) per 1,000 ventilator-days (Poisson GEE analysis). Registered as CTRI/2024/02/062201.
- Key findings
- A total of 1,035 patients (637 No CHX, 398 CHX) accrued 10,024 ventilator-days. VAP occurred in 100/5,918 ventilator-days (16.9 per 1,000) without CHX vs. 77/4,106 (18.8 per 1,000) with CHX; the adjusted incidence rate ratio was 1.08 (95% CI 0.84-1.38; p = 0.56). 28-day mortality was 28.7% vs. 26.4% (adjusted OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.65-1.15; p = 0.33). ICU length of stay was longer in the CHX arm (adjusted mean difference + 0.89 days, 95% CI + 0.19 to + 1.58; p = 0.013). BOAS and CPOT scores did not differ.
- Limitations
- Single-hospital study with unequal arm sizes; VAP was defined by a clinical score (CPIS > 6).
- Relevance to India
- The trial adds Indian ICU data to the debate on routine chlorhexidine oral care. The authors conclude that routine CHX use provided no clear incremental benefit in a mixed medical ICU population.
Antimicrobial resistance · Diagnostics · Journal of Clinical Microbiology
Performance of mCIM/eCIM in Enterobacterales strains co-encoding NDM and OXA-48-like carbapenemases from South India
Journal of Clinical Microbiology · doi:10.1128/jcm.01063-26 · PubMed 42961035
- What
- A study from Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, with the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Kochi, assessing how the modified carbapenem inactivation method (mCIM) and EDTA-modified CIM (eCIM) perform in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) encoding NDM, OXA-48-like, or both carbapenemases.
- Design
- 172 genotypically confirmed carbapenemase-encoding CRE isolates from perirectal swabs of patients admitted to two intensive care units at a hospital in South India were tested by mCIM/eCIM, and results were compared with molecular carbapenemase gene detection. Isolates were Escherichia coli (53.5%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (41.3%) and Enterobacter species (5.3%).
- Key findings
- 112 isolates (65.1%) encoded NDM alone, 23 (13.4%) OXA-48-like alone and 37 (21.5%) both. mCIM positivity was 98.2% for NDM, 47.8% for OXA-48-like and 94.6% for NDM+OXA-48-like encoders; among mCIM-positive isolates, eCIM positivity rates were 99.1%, 91% and 97.1%, respectively. mCIM/eCIM was highly sensitive for classifying NDM encoders as metallo-β-lactamase (MBL) producers but significantly misclassified OXA-48-like encoders as having an MBL or lacking a carbapenemase. Co-encoding isolates were typically reported as MBL producers.
- Limitations
- Isolates were colonising strains from two ICUs in one hospital; the authors note that the mechanisms underlying the variable assay activity remain to be understood.
- Relevance to India
- The authors describe this as the largest collection of NDM and OXA-48-like co-encoding Enterobacterales reported to date, and suggest that mCIM/eCIM performance may vary geographically due to variable activity, distribution and combinations of carbapenemases.
More from the journals
Antimicrobial resistance & stewardship
- LSHTM with partners in South and Southeast Asia: genomes and susceptibility of 342 poultry-associated Campylobacter isolates from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam; quinolone resistance was near universal (>90%), and phenicol resistance genes were not detected in South Asian isolates.Microbial Genomics · PubMed 42961448
- CVASU, Chattogram, and IEDCR, Dhaka: antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella spp. were found in 7.9% (95% CI: 5.3-11.1%) of fruit bat roost faecal samples and 31.8% (95% CI: 13.9-54.9%) of shared water samples; 28 (96.5%) of the resistant isolates were multidrug-resistant.PLOS ONE · PubMed 42961893
- University of the Punjab, Lahore: plasmid-mediated AmpC in clinical E. coli and K. pneumoniae; 74.5% were resistant to cefotaxime and ceftazidime, and CIT was the most prevalent gene (65.4% in E. coli, 63% in K. pneumoniae).Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology · PubMed 42959740
- Charotar University, Gujarat: in 180 human milk samples, Staphylococcus spp. accounted for 89.4% of isolates from lactational mastitis, and mecA was detected in 46.58% of isolates.Molecular Biology Reports · PubMed 42961526
Tuberculosis
- IISER Bhopal and JNU, New Delhi: narrative review on designing durable anti-TB regimens through pathogen physiological states, resistance fitness landscapes and regimen-level pharmacodynamics.International Journal of Infectious Diseases · PubMed 42962991
- GMCH Chandigarh: pilot study of TB-LAMP in 100 adults with suspected pulmonary TB; sensitivity 74.36% and specificity 91.80% against a composite reference standard.Cureus · PubMed 42959455
- Lahore General Hospital: isoniazid-resistant, rifampicin-susceptible TB not detected by Xpert MTB/RIF and identified on phenotypic drug susceptibility testing.Respirology Case Reports · PubMed 42959368
Vector-borne & zoonoses
- Dev Care Foundation, Dhaka: community engagement strategy for a cluster-randomised trial of mass vaccination and drug administration for malaria elimination across 100 villages (~12,000 people) in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.Research Involvement and Engagement · PubMed 42958342
- University of Freiburg: Aedes pupal surveys in Colombia and Triyuga Municipality, Nepal; in Nepal, 34 of 396 containers were productive, with barrels and flower vases contributing most pupae.Current Research in Parasitology & Vector-Borne Diseases · PubMed 42959520
- Allahabad: case report of expanded dengue syndrome in a child with acute pancreatitis, acute acalculous cholecystitis, ascites and pleural effusion.Tropical Doctor · PubMed 42957974
- Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore: Pasteurella canis sepsis in a man with alcoholic liver cirrhosis and close contact with cats but no bite or scratch.Tropical Doctor · PubMed 42961002
Virology & vaccines
- Yenepoya and partners: zone-resolved phylogenetics of 7846 Omicron genomes from all 28 states and 8 union territories (November 2021 to April 2022); an early BA.1 cluster was rapidly replaced by BA.2.10 and BA.2.12 lineages.Virology · PubMed 42962323
- Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi: hepatitis E virus-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome with respiratory failure in a 12-year-old girl.Journal of the National Medical Association · PubMed 42962440
- D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Pune: acute interstitial pancreatitis as an extrahepatic manifestation of acute hepatitis A in a 23-year-old man.BMC Infectious Diseases · PubMed 42958508
- Bangalore Baptist Hospital and St John’s Medical College, Bengaluru: case series of cutaneous cytomegalovirus infection in five immunocompromised patients.Indian Dermatology Online Journal · PubMed 42961592
- CMC Vellore: 48 children with pneumococcal meningitis (2007-2022); 25.7% died post-discharge, only 57.2% of those followed up achieved favourable outcomes (mRS 0-2), and penicillin resistance was 79.2%.BMC Pediatrics · PubMed 42958164
- Sathyabama Institute, Chennai: pan-genome and immunoinformatic screen identifying PsaA, AdcA, AmiA and Lmb as conserved pneumococcal surface proteins for serotype-independent vaccine development.Journal of Applied Genetics · PubMed 42957866
Mycology
- Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai: pulmonary mucormycosis due to Rhizopus homothallicus in a kidney transplant recipient, complicated by massive haemoptysis, with a literature review.IDCases · PubMed 42960190
- R. D. Gardi Medical College, Ujjain: 108 rhino-orbital cerebral mucormycosis inpatients (2021) with mobile follow-up in 2023; 52 of 61 respondents reported 123 post-discharge adversities, and antifungal prescription was associated with adversities (aOR 5.82, 95% CI 1.56-21.71).Frontiers in Health Services · PubMed 42959169
- Lahore General Hospital: endobronchial mucormycosis presenting as a pedunculated mass mimicking lung cancer after 6 months of empirical anti-tuberculosis therapy.Respirology Case Reports · PubMed 42959366
- IMS and SUM Hospital, Cuttack: localised cutaneous Fusarium infection on the leg mimicking scrofuloderma in an immunocompetent adult.Indian Dermatology Online Journal · PubMed 42961593
- Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata: adrenal histoplasmosis with Histoplasma colonisation of metastatic renal cell carcinoma cells.Indian Journal of Pathology and Microbiology · PubMed 42961577
Diagnostics
- Subharti Medical College, Dehradun, and AIIMS Guwahati: meta-analysis of rapid diagnostic tests vs ELISA; pooled sensitivity/specificity were 78.6%/99.30% for HIV, 88.2%/99.94% for HBV, 75.7%/99.42% for HCV, 97.0%/99.97% for dengue and 100.0%/97.18% for malaria.Cureus · PubMed 42959273
- AIIMS New Delhi: umbilical cord blood culture positivity was 19% (9/47) after spontaneous preterm birth vs 2% (1/40) at term, with sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 94.8% for culture-proven early-onset sepsis.Indian Journal of Pediatrics · PubMed 42957944
Other
- AIIMS Rishikesh: 97 of 5,389 stool samples (1.80%) were positive for intestinal parasites in 2019-2022; pre-COVID positivity (2.78%) exceeded that of the early COVID period (1.14%).Cureus · PubMed 42959655
- Kolkata: acute rheumatic fever with three major Jones manifestations but no carditis in a 13-year-old boy.Cardiology in the Young · PubMed 42958914
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.