Background: Nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli have emerged as important healthcare-associated pathogens. It is important to correctly identify all clinically significant nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli considering the intrinsic multidrug resistance exhibited by these bacteria. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken to identify the various nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli other than Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. isolated from respiratory samples (n = 9363), to understand their clinical relevance and to analyze their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. Results: Nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli were isolated from 830 (16.4%) samples showing significant growth. Thirty-three (4%) isolates constituted nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli other than P. aeruginosa and Acinetobacter spp. Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (15, 45.5%) was the most common isolate followed by Burkholderia cepacia (4, 12.1%), Sphingomonas paucimobilis (3, 9.1%), and Achromobacter xylosoxidans (3, 9.1%). On the basis of clinicomicrobiological correlation, pathogenicity was observed in 69.7% (n = 23) isolates. Timely and correct treatment resulted in clinical improvement in 87.9% cases. Conclusion: Any nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli isolated from respiratory tract infection should not be ignored as mere contaminant, but correlated clinically for its pathogenic potential and identified using standard methods so as to institute appropriate and timely antibiotic coverage.

Diagnosing extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is challenging. Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated EPTB is applied in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed at evaluating the applicability of POCUS for diagnosing EPTB in HIV-positive and HIV-negative presumptive tuberculosis (TB) patients in India, a country of moderate relative TB and HIV burden. Presumptive TB patients at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal, India, prospectively underwent POCUS evaluating for pericardial, pleural and ascitic effusion, abdominal lymphadenopathy, and hepatic and splenic microabscesses. Findings were correlated with TB category (confirmed TB, clinical TB, unlikely TB), HIV status, and discharge diagnoses. A total of 425 patients underwent POCUS; 81 (20%) were HIV-positive. POCUS findings were more common in HIV/TB coinfected patients than in HIV-positive patients with unlikely TB (24/40 (60%) versus 9/41 (22%), P < 0.001). Abdominal lymphadenopathy and splenic microabscesses were strongly associated with TB in HIV-positive patients (P = 0.002 and P = 0.001). POCUS findings did not correlate with TB in HIV-negative patients; a third of HIV-negative patients with unlikely TB and POCUS findings had cancer, another third other infectious diseases. Sonographic findings were common in HIV-positive and HIV-negative presumptive TB patients. POCUS was a useful bedside test for the detection of HIV-associated EPTB. In HIV-negative patients, POCUS detected features associated with EPTB but also of malignancy and other infectious diseases.

Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research aims to publish findings of doctors at grass root level and post graduate students, so that all unique medical experiences are recorded in literature.

Background: A majority of the studies done on the western population have shown that Pseudomonas aeruginosa causes many severe infections in patients with bronchiectasis as compared to other pathogens. There is scarcity of similar data from the Asian population. Materials and Methods: A prospective study was undertaken to identify the various pathogens isolated from the respiratory samples of 117 patients with bronchiectasis from south India and to compare the clinicomicrobiological profile of infections caused by P. aeruginosa and other respiratory pathogens. Results: The respiratory pathogens were isolated from 63 (53.8%) patients. P. aeruginosa was the most common isolate (46.0%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (14.3%) and other pathogenic bacteria. Patients included in the P. aeruginosa group had a higher number of exacerbations (p: 0.008), greater number of hospital admissions (p: 0.007), a prolonged hospital stay (p: 0.03), and poor lung function, compared to the patients infected with the non-Pseudomonas group. Conclusion: It is necessary to investigate the etiology of respiratory tract infections among bronchiectasis patients followed by the prompt management of cases diagnosed with P. aeruginosa infections, so as to lower the morbidity and have a better prognosis.