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Byomkesh Manna

Publications and source records attributed to Byomkesh Manna.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Evaluation of new-generation serologic tests for the diagnosis of typhoid fever: data from a community-based surveillance in Calcutta, India.

Although typhoid fever is confirmed by culture of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, rapid and simple diagnostic serologic tests would be useful in developing countries. We examined the performance of Widal test in a community field site and compared it with Typhidot and Tubex tests for diagnosis of typhoid fever. Blood samples were collected from 6697 patients with fever for > or =3 days for microscopy, culture, and serologic testing and from randomly selected 172 consenting healthy individuals to assess the baseline Widal anti-Typhi O lipopolysaccharide antibody (anti-TO) and anti-Typhi H flagellar antibody (anti-TH) titers. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the 3 serologic tests were calculated using culture-confirmed typhoid fever cases as "true positives" and paratyphoid fever and malaria cases as "true negatives". Comparing cutoff values for the Widal test, an anti-TO titer of 1/80 was optimal with 58% sensitivity, 85% specificity, 69% PPV, and 77% NPV. Sensitivity was increased to 67% when the Widal test was done on the 5th day of illness and thereafter. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of Typhidot and Tubex were not better than Widal test. There is a need for more efficient rapid diagnostic test for typhoid fever especially during the acute stage of the disease. Until then, culture remains the method of choice.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗
PubMed2006

The malaria and typhoid fever burden in the slums of Kolkata, India: data from a prospective community-based study.

Recent research has indicated that the malaria burden in Asia may have been vastly underestimated. We conducted a prospective community-based study in an impoverished urban site in Kolkata, India, to estimate the burden of malaria and typhoid fever and to identify risk factors for these diseases. In a population of 60452 people, 3605 fever episodes were detected over a 12-month period. The blood films of 93 febrile patients contained Plasmodium (90 P. vivax, 2 P. falciparum and 1 P. malariae). Blood cultures from 95 patients grew Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi. Malaria patients were found to be significantly older (mean age 29 years) compared with patients with typhoid fever (15 years; P<0.001) but had similar clinical features on presentation. Having a household member with malaria, illiteracy, low household income and living in a structure not built of bricks were associated with an increased risk for malaria. Having a household member with typhoid fever and poor hygiene were associated with typhoid fever. A geographic analysis of the spatial distribution of malaria and typhoid fever cases detected high-risk neighbourhoods for each disease. Focal interventions to minimise human-vector contact and improved personal hygiene and targeted vaccination campaigns could help to prevent malaria and typhoid fever in this site.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Evaluation of sexually transmitted diseases/human immunodeficiency virus intervention programs for sex workers in Calcutta, India.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The Sonagachi Project in Calcutta, India, organized sex workers to improve working conditions. GOAL: To compare rates of sexually transmitted diseases between the Sonagachi Project and other areas in which only the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) interventions were implemented. STUDY: A cross-sectional survey of randomly selected female sex workers. RESULTS: There was no difference in the prevalence of all STDs between the 2 areas; both were lower than reported in other surveys in 1992. Analysis using propensity scores also failed to demonstrate any difference. The number of preventive activities was similar in the Sonagachi and NACO-only areas but was more prevalent than in 1992. Sex workers in the Sonagachi area had better treatment-seeking behavior and attitudes. Both the Sonagachi and NACO strategies have resulted in lower STD rates, but the Sonagachi Project also increased the proportion who had an optimistic attitude and increased prevention and treatment-seeking behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

A multi-country cluster randomized controlled effectiveness evaluation to accelerate the introduction of Vi polysaccharide typhoid vaccine in developing countries in Asia: rationale and design.

Phase-III vaccine efficacy trials typically employ individually randomized designs intended to ensure that measurements of vaccine protective efficacy reflect only direct vaccine effects. As a result, decisions about introducing newly licensed vaccines into public health programmes often fail to consider the substantially greater protection that may occur when a vaccine is deployed in public health programmes, due to the combination of direct plus indirect vaccine protective effects. Vaccine total protection can be better evaluated with cluster randomized trials. Such a design was considered to generate policy relevant data to accelerate the rationale introduction of the licensed typhoid fever Vi polysaccharide (PS) vaccine in Asia by the Diseases of the Most Impoverished (DOMI) typhoid fever programme. The DOMI's programme multi-country study is one of the largest cluster randomized vaccine trials ever mounted in Asia, which includes approximately 200,000 individuals. Its main objective is to determine the effectiveness of a licensed Vi PS vaccine. The rationale and design of this study are discussed. Preliminary results are presented that determined the final planning of the trial before immunization. Important methodological and practical issues regarding vaccine cluster randomized designs are illustrated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Community-based epidemiology of hepatitis B virus infection in West Bengal, India: prevalence of hepatitis B e antigen-negative infection and associated viral variants.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There is a paucity of population-based epidemiological information regarding hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in India. The present study was planned to outline the magnitude and pattern of HBV infection, hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-negative infection and the associated viral mutants in India. METHODS: A community-based epidemiological study of HBV infection was carried out in West Bengal, India. Serological markers of infection and potential risk factors for HBV transmission were determined. Among the infected individuals, HBV-DNA, genotypes and mutations in the precore (PC) stop codon and basal core promoter (BCP) regions were determined by DNA sequencing and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) restriction fragment length polymorphism methods. RESULTS: Of the 7653 people included in the study, 227 (2.97%) tested positive for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), of whom 204 (90%) were HBeAg-negative and hepatitis B e antibody (anti-HBe)-positive, and 78% had normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels. HBV-DNA could be detected by PCR in only 32% of people. G1896A PC stop codon mutants were present in 12% of people, BCP mutants in 18% and the remainder (70%) of the HBeAg-negative infections were associated with wild type sequences in these regions. CONCLUSIONS: This first general population-based epidemiological study of HBV infection from India suggests that HBV acquisition starts in early childhood and peaks in adulthood. Most infections in the community are e-negative and inactive. The point prevalence of PC stop codon and BCP mutants is low in this primarily inactive and asymptomatic HBV-infected population sample in eastern India.

Adenine↗
PubMed2005

Risk factors for Indian kala-azar.

A case-control study was conducted to understand the risk factors associated with kala-azar in disease-endemic areas of Bihar, India. A total of 134 kala-azar cases treated at the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna and 406 healthy controls selected randomly from the neighborhoods of cases in their native villages were included in the study. Univariate analysis showed that education, a history of other diseases in the previous year, a history of kala-azar in the family, type of walls in houses, presence of a granary inside houses, presence of vegetation around houses, bamboo trees near houses, and irregular spraying around houses with DDT were risk factors. Multivariate analysis showed that a history of other diseases in the previous year (odds ratio [OR] = 3.6, P = 0.002), a history of kala-azar in the family (OR = 1.8, P = 0.03), mud-plastered walls in houses, (OR = 2.4, P = 0.0001], a granary inside houses (OR = 4.3, P = 0.0001), presence of bamboo trees around houses (OR = 2.3, P = 0.001), and houses not sprayed with DDT in the past six months (OR = 3.4, P = 0.0001) were significant risk factors for kala-azar. These results will be useful in developing kala-azar control programs for identifying intervention strategies such as better housing, regular and proper insecticide spraying, and promoting health awareness to the community residing in disease-endemic areas for reducing transmission and incidence of this disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Factors associated with reported diarrhoea episodes and treatment-seeking in an urban slum of Kolkata, India.

In an urban slum in eastern Kolkata, India, reported diarrhoea rates, healthcare-use patterns, and factors associated with reported diarrhoea episodes were studied as a part of a diarrhoea-surveillance project. Data were collected through a structured interview during a census and healthcare-use survey of an urban slum population in Kolkata. Several variables were analyzed, including (a) individual demographics, such as age and educational level, (b) household characteristics, such as number of household members, religious affiliation of the household head, building material, expenditure, water supply and sanitation, and (c) behaviour, such as hand-washing after defecation and healthcare use. Of 57,099 study subjects, 428 (0.7%) reported a diarrhoea episode sometime during the four weeks preceding the interview. The strongest independent factors for reporting a history of diarrhoea were having another household member with diarrhoea (adjusted odds ratio [OR]=3.8; 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.3-4.4) and age less than 60 months (adjusted OR=3.7; 95% CI 3.0-4.7). The first choice of treatment by the 428 subjects was as follows: 151 (35%) had self- or parent-treatment, 150 (35%) consulted a private allopathic practitioner, 70 (16%) went directly to a pharmacy, 29 (7%) visited a hospital, 14 (3%) a homoeopathic practitioner, 2 (0.5%) an ayurvedic practitioner, and 12 (3%) other traditional healers. The choices varied significantly with the age of patients and their religion. The findings increase the understanding of the factors and healthcare-use patterns associated with diarrhoea episodes and may assist in developing public-health messages and infrastructure in Kolkata.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Impact of zinc supplementation on diarrheal morbidity and growth pattern of low birth weight infants in kolkata, India: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, community-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of zinc supplementation on diarrheal morbidity and growth pattern of low birth weight (LBW) infants. METHODOLOGY: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, community-based study conducted in the Tiljala slum of eastern Kolkata, India, between 1999 and 2001, a birth cohort of 100 LBW infants was randomly allocated into either an intervention group receiving 1 mL daily dose of 5 mg of elemental zinc as zinc sulfate in vitamin B complex-based syrup or a placebo group receiving an identical placebo of 1 mL of vitamin-based syrup from birth up to 1 completed year of age. Active weekly surveillance was conducted for detection of diarrhea. Anthropometric measurements of each child were recorded once every month as close to the child's birth date as possible. Data were analyzed by using statistical software packages SPSSPC+ 4.0 (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL) and Epi Info 6.0 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA). RESULTS: Among the zinc-supplemented group, diarrheal incidence of 1.36 episodes per child per year were observed, whereas it was 1.93 episodes per child per year among the placebo group, giving a relative risk of 1.4 (95% confidence interval: 1.02-2.00). Linear growth and weight for age showed significant differences between the supplemented and placebo groups only at the end of 1 year. Interestingly, the impact of zinc supplementation was masked to a large extent by the protective action of breastfeeding. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that zinc supplementation had a beneficial impact on the incidence of diarrhea and also weight gain among LBW infants.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed2002

Role of chromium supplementation in Indians with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disorder with adverse cardiovascular risk. The role of micronutrients has not yet been well clarified in this condition, especially in India.THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY WERE TO: (1) evaluate chromium status in Indian subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus, (2) assess the effect of chromium picolinate (200 &mgr;g trivalent chromium twice daily) administration on glycaemic control and lipid profile in these subjects and (3) comment on the possible mechanism of any beneficial effect noted above.Fifty subjects were studied in a double blind, placebo-controlled, crossover fashion, with each treatment arm (chromium/placebo) lasting 12 weeks and 4 weeks' wash-off period in between. 50 healthy age- and sex-matched volunteers served as controls. Serum chromium level appeared to be higher in the general population in our country compared to western countries (36.5-59.5 nmol/L as compared to 2.3-40.3 nmol/L) However, the local diabetics were found to have a lower serum chromium level than the healthy controls (32.3 nmol/L against 44.7 nmol/L; p < 0.0001) and a mean increase of 3.5 nmol/L was noted after 12 weeks of chromium supplementation that was, expectedly, not seen in the placebo phase (p < 0.0001).Significant improvement in glycaemic control was noted in the chromium-treated group (DeltaFasting serum glucose = 0.44 mmol/L, p < 0.001; DeltaPost-prandial serum glucose = 1.97 mmol/L, p < 0.001; Deltaglycated hemoglobin = 0.01; p = 0.04, in comparison to placebo) This was accompanied by a significant greater fall in fasting serum insulin in the chromium-treated group, p < 0.05.The change in lipid parameters (total serum cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides) did not show significant difference between the chromium and placebo groups.Clinically significant hematological, renal or hepatic toxicity were excluded by routine hemogram, serum urea, creatinine, alanine amino transferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase estimations.In conclusion, chromium supplementation seems to improve glycaemic control in type 2 diabetic patients, which appears to be due to an increase in insulin action rather than stimulation of insulin secretion.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Gender differences in healthcare-seeking during common illnesses in a rural community of West Bengal, India.

This follow-up observational study examined gender disparities in seeking healthcare and in home management of diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, and fever among 530 children (263 boys and 267 girls) aged less than five years in a rural community of West Bengal, India, from June 1998 to May 1999. Of 790 episodes detected by a weekly surveillance, 380 occurred among boys and 410 among girls. At the household level, girls were less likely to get home fluids and oral rehydration solutions (ORS) during diarrhoea. Qualified health professionals were consulted more often (p = 0.0094) and sooner for boys than for girls (8.3 +/- 4.5 hours vs 21.2 +/- 9.5 hours), for which parents also travelled longer distances (3.3 km for boys vs 1.6 km for girls). Expenditure per treated episode (Rs 76.76 +/- 69.23 in boys and Rs 44.73 +/- 67.60 in girls) differed significantly (p = 0.023). Results of logistic regression analysis showed that chance of spending more money was 4.2 [confidence interval (CI) 1.6-10.9] times higher for boys. The boys were 4.9 (CI 1.8-11.9) times more likely to be taken early for medical care and 2.6 (CI 1.2-6.5) times more likely to be seen by qualified allopathic doctors compared to girls. Persistence of gender disparities calls for effective interventions for correction.

Child Health Services↗