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India is home to the most significant number of tuberculosis (TB) cases around the globe. The COVID-19 crisis has deeply perturbed most of the essential TB services in India. Regulating TB is difficult in a densely populated country like India due to latent TB infection in millions of Indians, which can reactivate at any point in the future. Due to the ongoing pandemic, healthcare workers have been diverted to activities implemented for effective COVID-19 management, leaving a meager workforce to help deal with TB management. Integrating TB and COVID-19 to augment India's health outreach is the need of the hour to diminish the effect of the COVID-19 crisis on TB. Increasing overall testing capacity, active screening, implementation of strategies for easy identification of TB hotspots, and ensuring uninterrupted drug supply for treatment through heedful planning of local and regional distribution and transportation will especially help cater to the vulnerable population who are at a high risk of suffering from adverse outcomes of TB. Lessons learnt in the battle against COVID-19 can most definitely help in providing insights to fulfill the goal of eliminating TB from India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In addition to the overwhelming and uncontrollable second wave of COVID‐19 in India, the country is also dealing with an outbreak of mucormycosis, a deadly fungal infection, which is affecting thousands of COVID‐19 patients. With the increasing number of cases of mucormycosis and a fatality rate of 50%, many Indian states and union territories have declared an epidemic of black fungus due to its unprecedented emergence, which has adversely affected the already debilitated health system of the country. The advent of the new fungal epidemic in the country is due to the overdosage, panic and injudicious use of corticosteroids among COVID‐19 patients, as well as their pre‐existing medical history of diabetes, given that India is the diabetes capital of the world. Thus, there is an urgent need to address this public health concern by having nationwide surveillance, diagnostic and management system of the disease, along with public awareness and education to combat the syndemic of COVID‐19 and mucormycosis in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinocerebellar ataxia 1 (SCA1) is a late-onset neurodegenerative disease caused by CAG (coding for glutamine) repeat expansions or polyglutamine (polyQ) aggregates in the ATXN1 gene. Apart from the causative CAG repeat expansions in the ATXN1 locus, environment and ethnicity have been hypothesized to affect clinical variability. This review brings together studies on SCA1 conducted in India and explores disease heterogeneity within the Indian population in general and within a cohort of SCA1 individuals in a South Indian village. The studies support existence of genetic factors in addition to CAG repeat sizes that are likely to influence SCA1 progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on the universal health coverage (UHC) which also is the theme of 2018 World Health Day. Topics disscussed include the two complementary schemes under the health mission 'Ayushman Bharat' launched by the Indian government, that are, Health and Wellness Centres and National Health Protection Scheme.

Objective: To investigate the facemask adherence rate among South Asian countries and to examine association between face mask adherence and socio-demographic factors. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: South Asian countries (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh), from Jul to Sep 2020. Methodology: A total of 1579 individuals of age more than 14 years, of either gender, who had internet accessibility and understood English, participated in the study. The study was designed on Google forms and distributed through social media networks. The three South-Asian countries, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, were targeted. Data regarding socio-demographics and type of facemask adherence was collected. Results: The mean age of the participants was 31.32 ± 9.83 years. Of all the participants, there were 826 (46.3%) males, and 959 (53.7%) were females. Univariate analysis showed that females, Muslims, education level till graduate, employed, monthly income <$300, and Bangladeshis participants had higher odds of face mask adherence (p<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that females, Muslims, urban residents, secondary level education, employed, family monthly income $100-$300, and Bangladeshis were strongly associated with face mask adherence (p<0.05). Conclusion: Among the three countries, Bangladeshis had higher facemask adherence than Pakistan and India. The sociodemographic factors associated with facemask usage were gender, religion, locality, education, employment status, family monthly income, and nationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc in the world from last year, and any further insults like Zika virus will surely bring the apocalypse unto us. In July 2021, Zika began spreading in India, mainly in the state of Kerala. Zika infection resembles closely COVID-19 and other arboviral infections, which might lead to delayed and misdiagnosis, further leading to underreporting of cases. Some of the feared complications of Zika include Guillain–Barré syndrome and congenital Zika syndrome leading to microcephaly. Thus, Zika virus disease (ZVD) has significant public health and social impacts. Since the trifecta of infectious diseases (host, agent and environment) are all conducive to the spread of Zika in India, there is a huge risk that ZVD might become endemic in India, which is especially dangerous in the backdrop of this pandemic. This has to be stopped at all costs: the main aspects of which are public health measures, vector control and early diagnosis, especially in case of pregnant women. The diversion of healthcare resources for this pandemic has albeit made this difficult, but we must do our bit if we have to overcome this situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the worst global crisis after World War II. Since the vaccine trials are still ongoing, the national lockdowns have been the most effective way to contain its spread. The pandemic has been extremely stressful and full of anxiety for those with comorbidities as they are the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 infections. Various efforts to assess and enhance the knowledge, attitudes, and practice, especially the high-risk groups, are critical to managing the COVID-19 pandemic successfully. A cross-sectional online survey was carried out using a self-designed questionnaire. A total of 383 participants who were 30 years or older, with at least one comorbidity, were included in the study. The mean age of the participants was 50.63±11.83 years. The most common comorbidities among the included participants were hypertension, followed by diabetes mellitus and thyroid disorders (48.5%, 44.7% and 23.3%, respectively). Our study also showed the education (p=0.004) and occupation (p=0.04) had a significant association with the attitude and practices towards the COVID-19 pandemic. In conclusion, our study showed that a high level of knowledge, attitude, and practices are the backbone to combat a global crisis like COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]