COVID 19 Vaccine Breakthrough Infection among Health Care Workers

Background Mass vaccination is considered the primary strategy for reducing the impact of COVID-19, and it has been implemented globally. Objective To study the extent of SARS-CoV-2 infection and breakthrough infection among the HCWs who were fully vaccinated for at least 14 days and investigated the relation between neutralizing antibody response and breakthrough infection. Method This study was a retrospective cohort study among health care workers at Dhulikhel Hospital Kathmandu University Hospital from December 2021 to October 2022. The interviews with semi structured questionnaire were conducted in person or over phone. Out of 1450 participants 137 fully vaccinated HCWs without breakthrough infection were randomly selected for the prospective serological cohort. Result Out of 1079 participants' majority (51.8%) were of age 25-34 years. Two thirds (66.7%) were females. More than half of participant (54.7%) had infection with SARS-CoV-2 at least once whereas more than one third people (35%) had reported SARS-CoV-2 infection 14 days after receiving full vaccination. Infection after vaccination had less moderate and sever/critical illness and less need for hospitalization as compared to infection before vaccination. Staffs who were directly involved in patient care had higher chance of breakthrough infection compared to those not involved directly in patient care. Those who had prior infection or booster dose had relatively higher antibody level and participants with low level of antibody had higher chance for breakthrough infection (35.3%) than participants with moderate to high level of antibody (11.9%). Conclusion Vaccinations significantly decreased severe diseases and the need for hospitalizations. Breakthrough infection was higher among the health care workers involved in direct patient care and with low level of antibody.

Seroprevalence of Scrub Typhus in Patients Attending Dhulikhel Hospital, Kavre

Background Scrub typhus is a largely ignored tropical disease and a leading cause of undifferentiated febrile illness. It is caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi. Scrub Typhus is frequently observed in South Asian countries. However, clear epidemiological information of this disease is lacking in case of Nepal. Nepal has shown steady increase in cases of Scrub Typhus since 2015. The epidemiological data related to this disease would support the decision making and surveillance design for early outbreak detection and immediate responses including prevention and treatment of scrub typhus in Nepal. Objective To understand prevalence of Scrub Typhus in subjects who had visited outpatient department at Dhulikhel Hospital. Method In this study, we have studied antibody test data (n=784) for Scrub Typhus from 2019 to 2021. The tests were performed on serum samples of patients who had visited OPD at Dhulikhel Hospital with fever lasting more than 5 days. The kit used in analysis was Scrub Typhus Detect™ IgM ELISA Kit from InBios International. Result Out of the total subjects (n=784), 133 were positive (16.9%) for IgM antibody of Scrub Typhus. The positivity in female (18.6%) was higher than the male subjects (15.3%). The positivity rate was variable among the different age groups, with highest positivity for age group 0-14 years (25%). The seasonal variation was also observed among the seropositive cases. Conclusion Scrub Typhus being a neglected tropical disease has high prevalence. It can be postulated that female subjects and subjects of age group 0-14 years are vulnerable to the infection with Scrub Typhus. There is need to increase the surveillance of Scrub Typhus to add the knowledge for diagnosis and treatment.

Whole Genome Sequence Analysis to Identify SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Nepal

Background The spread of SARS-CoV-2 has become a global public health crisis. Nepal is facing the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic but, there is still a limited data on the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in Nepal. Objective The objective of this study is to sequence the whole genome of SARS-CoV-2 in Nepal to detect possible mutation profiles and phylogenetic lineages of circulating SARSCoV-2 variants. Method In this study, swab samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 were investigated. After RNA extraction, the investigation was performed through real-time PCR followed by whole genome sequencing. The consensus genome sequences were, then, analyzed with appropriate bioinformatics tools. Result Sequence analysis of two SARS-CoV-2 genomes from patient without travel history (Patient A1 and A2) were found to be of lineage B.1.1. Similarly, among other four samples from subjects returning from the United Kingdom, genomes of two samples were of lineage B.1.36, and the other two were of lineage B.1.1.7 (Alpha Variant). The mutations in the consensus genomes contained the defining mutations of the respective lineages of SARS-CoV-2. Conclusion We confirmed two genomic sequences of variant of concern VOC-202012/01 in Nepal. Our study provides the concise genomic evidence for spread of different lineages of SARS-CoV-2 - B.1.1, B.1.36 and B.1.1.7 of SARS-CoV-2 in Nepal.

A clinicopathological study of dysfunctional uterine bleeding

Background: Dysfunctional uterine bleeding is a form of abnormal uterine bleeding when there is absence of organic disease of the genital tract. The objective of this study was to find out the clinical and pathological aspect of women presenting with dysfunctional uterine bleeding.Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted over a period of one year from April 14th 2010 to April 13th 2011 in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Department of Pathology, Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. A complete history, clinical examination, pelvic scan, hormonal status if required and endometrial biopsy were done to diagnose dysfunctional uterine bleeding.Results: A total of 120 cases were included. The age of the patients diagnosed dysfunctional uterine bleeding were ranging from 24 -63 years. Dysfunctional uterine bleeding was most common in the age group 40-44 yrs (30%) followed by 45-49 yrs (27.5%). Menorrhagia (41.7%) was the most common presenting sign. Majority histopathology of endometrium revealed anovulatory pattern (61.7%) followed by ovulatory (38.3%). Of the cases with an anovulatory pattern 48.6% was proliferative endometrium, 33.8% disordered proliferative endometrium, 6.8%atrophic, 5.4% weakly proliferative and 2.7% each of simple hyperplasia without atypia and complex hyperplasia with atypia. All cases with ovulatory pattern showed secretory endometrium.Conclusion: Dysfunctional uterine bleeding was the most common in the perimenopausal age group and chiefly in the form of an anovulatory endometrium. . Histopathological evaluation of endometrium helps exclude the local causes and establishes the diagnosis of dysfunctional uterine bleeding, its types, and clinical correlation to histopathological findings and finally helps to determine the mode of management.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jpn.v4i8.11500 Journal of Pathology of Nepal; Vol.4,No. 8 (2014) 635-638