60 + years should get vaccinated against invasive pneumonia

Doctors  on Friday suggested people above 60 years to get themselves vaccinated against invasive pneumonia, an acute condition when the organisms goes beyond the respiratory tract causing severe infection. 

The Geriatric Medicine department in collaboration with an NGO,  today launched a pan India awareness campaign against invasive pneumonia.
 
"Pneumonia is one of the leading cause of ICU admissions for elderly people which requires ventilatory support. Data suggests that 60 per cent of the ICU beds both in public and private hospitals are occupied by patients aged above 60 years suffering mostly by pneumonia.

After people cross 60 years of age, they become prone to chest infections and especially pneumonia as their immune system becomes weak and they have multiple problem with aging which further aggravates the condition," said a Geriatrician.

Invasive pneumonia can be prevented by inoculating vaccines.

"Vaccines should be given to people above 60 years as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and it should be again repeated after the age of 80," said an Assistant professor in the Geriatric Medicine department.

He also said that the hospital will provide free vaccines against invasive pneumonia to all persons aged above 70 years.

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Moss that can remove lead from water identified

Scientists have identified a type of moss that can efficiently absorb a large amount of lead, providing a green alternative for decontaminating polluted water and soil.

Lead-contaminated water is a serious environmental concern that has recently proved to be disastrous when left untreated.

Compounding the problem, the typical way to remove lead or other heavy metals from water requires fossil fuels and a tremendous amount of energy.

As an alternative to these typical processes, phytoremediation is a method that uses photosynthesizing organisms to clean up soil or water contamination.

Researchers began their search for a phytoremediation-based removal method by looking at  
F-hygrometrica, a moss that is known to grow well in sites contaminated with metals like copper, zinc, and lead.

"We found that the moss can function as an excellent lead absorbent when in the protonema stage of development," said the first author of the study.

"This valuable ability means that moss protonema will likely make exceptional wastewater cleaners in mining and chemical industries," he said.

To characterise the metal-absorbing ability of the moss, the team first prepared solutions with varying concentrations of 15 different metals and exposed them to F hygrometrica protonema.

After 22 hours of exposure, mass-spectrometer analysis showed that the moss cells had absorbed lead up to 74 per cent of their dry weight, which is quite high and much higher than any of the other metals.

Knowing where the lead accumulates is important for understanding how it occurs and for developing the most efficient phytoremediation.

Analysis showed that within the moss protonema cells, more that 85 per cent of the lead had accumulated in the cell walls, with smaller amounts being found in organelle membranes and inside the chloroplasts where photosynthesis occurs.

Focusing on the cell walls, the team found that they absorbed lead even after being removed from living moss.

This means that there is something special about the cell walls of this species of moss that allows them to thrive in environments that are toxic to other plants.

Analysis with two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance indicated that polygalacturonic acid in the cell walls was responsible for absorbing the lead.

"We compared F hygrometrica data with those from land plants and seaweeds and found that the presence of polygalacturonic acid in the cell wall is one of the characteristics that separated this type of moss from other plants," said the researcher.

They next determined that the protonema cells absorbed lead well at pH values between 3 and 9, which is important because the acidity of metal-polluted water can vary.

"Our findings show that F hygrometrica is a useful bio- material for recovering lead from aqueous solutions, and will contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations, specifically the Life on Land goal," said a researcher.

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Superbugs crawling their way out of hospitals

Drug-resistant strains that have a high mortality rate — cases of which were usually seen among people that had recently been to a hospital — are now spreading to people who have had no contact with any healthcare centre for over three months, a recent study has revealed. 

The author of the study said: “The distinction between community-acquired and hospital-acquired infections is becoming increasingly blurred. The main reasons for this are the spread of classically ‘hospital’ strains, particularly resistant Klebseilla and E. Coli, into the community and vice versa, and the repeated admission of individuals to hospitals with long-standing underlying diseases.

Building resistance

“In addition, the contribution of antibiotic resistance to the community through easily available antibiotics often used without medical supervision has resulted in an increasing reservoir of potential infections,” said the Dr. 

He added that resistance to high-end antibiotics by organisms contracted by patients in the community “is a cause for worry and needs further research and proper action plan”.

Infections due to multi-drug resistant organisms have become a serious health concern worldwide.
The study — Association of high mortality with extended-spectrum Beta-lactamase (ESBL) positive cultures in community acquired infections — was conducted to investigate the spectrum of microbial resistance pattern in the community and their effects on mortality.

The study notes that infections due to multi-drug resistant organisms, particularly those producing extended-spectrum Beta-lactamases, are of major concern worldwide.

New generation

ESBLs are organisms that are resistant to various newer-generation antibiotics and can be easily transferred to the community.

These resistant infections pose therapeutic challenges to clinicians in the treatment of these patients and may therefore be associated with high morbidity and mortality.

“The striking point noted in our results is the emergence of E.coli as most common bacteria in the community causing bacteraemia, respiratory and urinary tract infection and higher mortality in ESBL positive producers as compared to ESBL negative producers,” said the Dr. 

Among the 201 patients studied, 63.44% who contracted E. coli were ESBL producers.

Trickling into society

This reflects the increased resistance pattern to high-end antibiotics in Hospital-Acquired Infections due to inadvertent early use of third-generation Beta-lactam antibiotics, such as cephalosporins, which is further trickling over into the community because of “plasmid mediated transfer of its genetic materials during conjugation”, noted the study. 

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