NRS researchers studying hospital-acquired infections, which can turn fatal
Bacterial infections acquired from hospitals the subject of a study with a pan-Bengal footprint
A common phenomenon among many patients who get admitted to hospitals is that they acquire new diseases from the hospital while being treated for the one for which they were admitted.
And many such diseases appear once the patient has returned home, and therefore, they have to get readmitted to a hospital. In many cases, such infections, termed hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), turn fatal.
This phenomenon is confined to not just Bengal but is seen pan-India. These HAIs are mostly caused by bacteria, and they are both complicated and costly to treat.
In an effort towards controlling this problem, a team of researchers under the leadership of Dr Soma Sarkar, a professor of microbiology at Nilratan Sarkar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, have undertaken a project, with the assistance of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India’s national medical research body.
The researchers will first observe the effects of bacteria on patients who get infected, rather reinfected, in hospitals. The serious infections happen in the respiratory tract, urinary tract, bloodstream (sepsis and bacteraemia) and at surgical sites, and also a group of infections associated with the bacterium, Clostridium difficile, called Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs). Sometimes, after getting a surgery done, patients lose their sense of touch on the areas operated upon due to HAIs.
After this observation stage is over, the researchers will get down to finding remedies to these infections. Some of the bacteria have already been identified, the important ones being acinetobacter and pseudomonas.
To make the study comprehensive, the researchers have roped in Burdwan Medical College, Bankura Medical College, Malda Medical College, North Bengal Medical College and Cooch Behar Medical College.
