Kitasato Shibasaburō

Birth Anniversary : Rebecca Craighill Lancefield

28th Decemver : Birth Anniversary of Kary Mullis

27th December : Louis Pasteur Birth Anniversary

WORLD AIDS DAY 2011

The theme for World AIDS Day 2011 : Getting to Zero.

(Click on the image for larger view)

Birth Anniversary of Theodar Escherich

Theodor Escherich (29 November 1857 – 15 February 1911) was a German-Austrian pediatrician and a professor at universities in Graz, and Vienna. He discovered the bacterium Escherichia coli, which was named after him in 1919, and determined its properties.

(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Escherich)

Please see a poster created by Dr. Amarender Reddy, Dy. Director of IPM. (Click on the photo for larger view)

Raymond Sabouraud

24th November : Birth anniversary of Raymond Sabouraud. In rememberance of Saboraud, the following poster was prepared by Dr. Amarender Reddy , Dy. Director, IPM, Hyderabad. (Please click on the picture for enlarged view).

MICROCONAP 2012 : IMPORTANT NEWS

Please see the website for important instructions regarding the prizes and the regulations for presenting papers for various prizes (Click here to visit website)

For registration : Please send your DDs favouring, 'Microconap2012' payable at Kurnool.

The last date for submission of Abstracts/Papers is extended up to : 15th November, 2011

The various prizes that will be given are :

1. DR. RAJAYALAKSHMI MEMORIAL AWARD (Previously Dr. Rajyalakshmi Oration) : given to the orator suggested/invited by the Organizing Secretary in the form of silver medal.



2. DR.C.S. BASKARAN PRIZE



3. Smt B.S.Laxmi Memorial Prize for Postgraduates



4. Sri B.Krishna Rao Memorial Prize for Junior faculty
   



5. The Rangaraya Medical College Senior Faculty Award
   



6. DR. SATYANARAYANA MEMORIAL PRIZE : for PG quiz : two prizes (1^st and 2^nd) (Sponsored by Dr. Rajarajeswari )
   



7. GOLD MEDAL TO PG (MD student) secured highest marks in NTR UHS Examinations (sponsored by DR.M.V. Ramanamma)
   



8. PRIZE OF PG PEDAGOGY : Introduced from this year . Sponsored by the Department of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur. Two prizes will be awarded. The money for the prizes will be generated from the interest accumulated from Rs. 50,000-00 donated by the Dept of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur. Only final year PGs are eligible to participate. Please send your names to the Organising Secretary. The topics are also announced.
   

LIST OF TOPICS FOR PG PEDAGOGY

1) Recent advances in the diagnosis of Tuberculosis.
2) Drug resistance in Tuberculosis
3) Malarial vaccines
4) Role of ESBL producers in hospital infections
5) Vector borne viral diseases in India


The guidelines are available on the website in a downloadable and printable format.
Click here to visit the website.
Also on the website, you will find the list of previous annual state conferences.

The directory of IAMM AP Chapter has been updated.

Please check the annual PG Memberships. Several memberships are expired and indicated in Red colour in the Directory. If any of them want to present papers in the State conference, they should take fresh membership or more conveniently, life membership if they finished MD. The details of the membership and membership form are available on the website. For further details, please contact the treasurer of IAMM AP Chapter, Dr. K.Prasanthi, Asst. Professor of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College.

Nobel Prizes in Medicine and Physiology 2011

The Nobel Prizes in Physiology and Medicine were announced yesterday. The prize was divided one half jointly to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity" and the other half to Ralph M. Steinman "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity".













Please read the press release and other details :

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2011/press.html?print=1

Related :

Nobel laureate scientist dies days before award

Cancer kills Nobel physician before he hears of prize

NEWS : Sept 2011 : CME Programme at Global Hospitals

Two day CME programme on Quality assurance in Microbiology and Infection control

Quality assurance in Microbiology and Infection control form an integral part of a laboratory and health care setting respectively. This two day educational CME programme focuses on aspects of Quality assurance in Microbiology and Infection control slanted towards accreditation processes and it will help many laboratories structure their preparation for an accreditation process in Microbiology or an infection control programme for a hospital accreditation. It will also help laboratories and hospitals who are already accredited to further strengthen their departments of Microbiology and Infection control as they seek surveillance visits and re- accreditation from national and international agencies.

A serious attempt has been made to choose faculty from amongst those who have been a part of the accreditation process, or those who are assessors for national bodies of accreditation. This will hopefully give a first hand information on the requirements in clinical microbiology and infection control for an accreditation process.

The programme is open to all those who are interested, however medical microbiologists, senior supervisors of laboratories, senior laboratory medical technologists, all those associated with infection control activities HIC Infection control nurses, hospital administrators and other infection control practitioners will benefit from this two day course. Registrations for either of the two days or both days. The course fees are as follows:

A. Quality assurance in Microbiology 15^th October : Rs 1000/- per delegate

b. Infection control and accreditation 16^th October : Rs 1000/- per delegate

The payment may be made in the form of cash or a demand draft in the name of “ Clinical Microbiology course” payable at Hyderabad . Please send all demand drafts to the following address:

Dr. Ranganathan N Iyer

Consultant Clinical Microbiologist

Global Hospital, Lakdi- ka- pul

Hyderabad- 500004

The course fees will cover two coffees/ teas , lunches on the day/ s along with the documentation for the particular session paid for. It does not cover travel and / or accommodation. All delegates are advised to make their own arrangements for their travel and stay in Hyderabad.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILED SCHEDULE

Dr. Ranganathan N Iyer MD FRCPath ( UK) DNB DPB MAMS

Consultant Clinical Microbiologist

Tel no ( work): 040 -30244505 Mob: 09849690680 E mail: ranganathaniyer@yahoo.com

News : Blood Tests to diagnose tuberculosis can be dangerous : WHO

WHO 20 July 2011 :













A 12-month analysis reveals that currently available commercial blood tests for diagnosing active TB often lead to misdiagnosis, mistreatment and potential harm to public health. WHO is urging countries to ban these tests and instead rely on accurate microbiological or molecular tests.


Click here to read full details from the WHO Site

OBITUARY : Smt .Dr.M.Saroja Venugopal

One of the Senior microbiologist, Retd. Professor, Dr. M.Saroja Venugopal passed away on 18-4-2011.

She was born in Kodaikanal on 12-5-1941. She did her MBBS from Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam in 1963 and MD (Microbiology) in 1969 from Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam under the guidance of Dr. C.S.Bhaskaran. She held various positions as faculty of Microbiology.

1963-69 : Tutor in Microbiology, AMC
1969-82 : Asst. Professor of Microbiology, AMC
1978-81 : Training in USA in Microbiology
1982-87 : Professor of Microbiology, RMC, Kakinada
1987-97 : Professor and Head, AMC
1998 : Principal of GMC, Guntur
Retired from Govt Service : in 1998
1998-2005 : Professor and Head, Narayana Medical College, Nellore
2005 - Consultant Microbiologist, DDS Labs, Visakhapatnam

She guided about 20 postgraduates, presented several papers at IAMM Conferences and published several papers in reputed national and international journals.

Her absence is a great loss for the association. The executive body of IAMM AP Chapter and the members express their deepsest sympathies to the bereaved family members of Dr.Saroja Venugopal.
***

Milestone in Vaccinology

CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW

News of IAMM AP CHAPTER : MAY 2011

The meeting of the executive body of IAMM AP Chapter was held on 9-4-2011, in the chambers of the President of IAMM AP Chapter, Dr. G.Krishna Murty, Professor and Head of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur. The proposed topics for discussion were circulated through email and website to the members and the suggestions from the members were also considered during the meeting.

The following points were discussed in the meeting :

1. Registration of IAMM AP Chapter in the coming months: As a registered body, the IAMM AP Chapter will have advantages like :
a. Negotiations with the government regarding the grievances of the medical microbiologists.
b. Raising the funds for the association : The issue will be followed up so that the donors shall be eligible for income tax exemption.

2. Designation of the Department as : Department of Clinical Microbiology : the issue will be represented to the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh.

3. Hospital infectious committee should be formed in every teaching hospital and Microbiology HOD should be the chairmen of the committee. The initiative is to be taken by all HOD s in the state.

4. Postgraduate Memberships : All the MD Postgraduates in Microbiology should be enrolled as Postgraduate Members of IAMM AP state chapter by paying Rs. 500 (For 3 years). All the HODs of Microbiology are requested to motivate the PGs in this regard. The details and the membership form can be downloaded from the website.

5. Risk Allowance : The executive body will correspond with the Govt. of AP regarding the risk allowance for the microbiologists.

6. XV Annual State Conference of IAMM AP Chapter : Next conference of IAMM AP chapter will be held at Kurnool Medical college under leadership of Dr. K. Srinivasa Rao, Professor and Head of the Department of Microbiology, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool. The dates are : 6th , 7th and 8th January 2012.

7. NEW prize for Postgraduates : A new prize for the PGs was proposed by the President IAMM AP Chapter. The prize amount will be derived from the annual interest generated from Rs . 50,000/- donated by the Department of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College. Two prizes will be given, as cash award. The detailed guidelines will be published on website and notified soon and will be informed (The details of the prizes and guidelines for the prizes can be accessed from the website).

We request all our members to read the above resolutions carefully and send their valuable suggestions to the secretary IAMM AP chapter by post preferably

(Mailing address :
Dr. O.Satyanarayana,
Department of Microbiology,
GGH Campus, Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada).

You may also send your comments to : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in

World Health Day: 7th April 2011

Theme for 2011

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE

no action today, no cure tomorrow

The slide is prepared by : Dr. Amarender Reddy, IPM, Hyderabad

(Click on the slide for larger view)

News : March 2011 (First)

Thank you for the responses regarding the change of the name of the department
(News: February 2011).

The suggestions we received so far (till 10th March, 2011) :

1. Department of Clinical Microbiology
2. Department of Infectious Medicine
3. Department of Infectious Diseases

Please give your feedback.

The meeting of the executive body is planned on : 9th April, 2011

***
The Next (XV) Annual State Conferene (2012):
Dr. K.Sreenivasa Rao, Professor and Head, Dept. of Microbiology, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool came forward with a proposal to conduct the next conference. Final decision of the executive body is pending.

***

CONDOLENCES

DR. KOLA RAJYALAKSHMI PASSES AWAY ON 2-3-2011

The Executive body of IAMM AP Chapter and all the members express deepest sympathies to the bereaved family members of Dr. Rajyalakshmi.
She is one of the founder member of IAMM AP Chapter. Her absence is an irreparable loss to the association.
The inspiration showered by her will always be there in the hearts and memories of the microbiologists of our state.
We express our heartfelt condolences to her family.

Please read News Clipping

The Hindu

Andhra Jyothi (Telugu)

IAMM AP NEWS : FEBRUARY 2011

This is to communicate to all the members regarding certain issues of importance.

The New Executive Body of IAMM AP Chapter : CLICK HERE

• President : Dr. G.Krishna Murty
• Vice President : Dr. K.Vishnu Vardhan Rao

Please click here for complete details of the executive body.


There will be meeting of all the executive members is planned to be held at the Chambers of the President Dr. G.Krishna Murty, Professor and Head, Dep. Of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur. The initially proposed date (March second saturday) is postponed as we are expecting more response and active feed back from the members regarding the following points that are planned to be discussed.

The things planned to be discussed are :

1. Registration of the Association

2. The PG Memberships :

• The existing rate of the PG 3-year membership is Rs. 500-00. But, several PGs are taking only the annual membership, before presenting papers in the state conference. It is desirable to make the PG-3 year membership compulsary for all the PGs joined from this academic year and heads of the department fo microbiology in various colleges have to take the responsibility of collecting the amount from the newly joined pgs and sending the same to the treasurer . The annual membership may be totally avoided for PGs and can be limited to those who finished MD and not yet taken life membership or the MSc postgraduates who did not get the eligibility for life membership as per the National guidelines.

3. The Name of the Department :

• The Name of the department may be changed to “The Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases” , with more momentum towards the clinical microbiology. Once we get opinions and feedback from the members, the proposals will be presented to the govt authorities and national body.
  

In this regard, all the members are requested to convey their opinions on these issues to the email id of iammapchapter : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in

Please mail your valuable suggestions and opinions as soon as possible, preferably by the end of March First week, so that it helps a lot in organizing the ideas.

Added on 10th March 2011 :

The suggestions we received so far (till 10th March, 2011) regarding the name of the dept :
1. Department of Clinical Microbiology
2. Department of Infectious Medicine
3. Department of Infectious Diseases

Please give your feedback.

Update : 10th March 2011

The meeting of the executive body is planned on : 9th April, 2011
***

IAMMAPCON January 2011: Web album : Slide show

IAMMAPCON January 2011 : Guntur

The XIV Annual Conference of IAMM AP Chapter was held at Guntur Medical College, Guntur on 7th, 8th and 9th of January 2011. Please watch the slide show. click on the photos for larger view.

IAMMAPCON 2011 : WEB ALBUM

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO ACTIVATE THE ALBUM

iammapcon_Jan2011

Video

Video submitted by : Dr. A.Kishore Reddy, Tirupati

This video taken fromt the wet mount preparation of a stool sample.

Identify this ...

please submit your comments to : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in

Invitation for participation in cultural events

Invitation for participation in cultural events"

Dear delegates.

We are going to have an cultural meet on the evening of 08-1-11 at
banquet dinner.

I request all the interested delegates to send their names for participation before 25th of Dec by mail. The various events we have are :

Music - Vocal instrument

Dance - Classical and western

Mimicry

Any other feasible event


once again we extend a warm invitation for participation. This is to facilitate a homely atmosphere of AP Microbiological family get together.

Thanking you,

Yours affectionately,

Organising committee
XIV IAMM APCON 2011.

XIV IAMM AP CHAPTER CONFERENCE : JANUARY 2011

PLEASE VISIT WEBSITE OF IAMM AP CHAPTER

CLICK HERE

IAMM AP CHAPTER is previlaged to invite you all to the historical city of Guntur for the hot and spicy academic feast to be served at XIV IAMM AP Conference "XIV APCON 2011" with the theme, "Animalcules to Molecules".

Dates of the Conference : 7th , 8th and 9th January, 2011

• 7th : Preconfernce CME on : "Automation in Microbiology"
• 8th and 9th : Conference
• *PG Symposium : 8th
• *PG Quiz : 9th

PLEASE SEE THE BROCHURE FOR DETAILS OF REGISTRATION

• Click Here to see the brochure of the conference ( 1st information letter)

For registration :

DDs should be drawn in favour of : iammXIVapcon2011 , payable at Guntur

Registration : For further details : Please contact : Dr.P.Venkataramana, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur for further clarifications if necessary. Ph. 9885170050

***

PRIZES AT THE CONFERENCE :

1. Dr. Rajyalakshmi Oration Award : Sponsored by Dr. Rajyalakshmi, for the Guest Lecture (invited)
2. Dr. C.S.Bhaskaran Award : Sponsored by Dr. C.S.Bhaskaran
3. Smt B.S.Laxmi Memorial Prize for Postgraduates : Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani, Professor of Microbiology, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam.
4. Sri B.Krishna Rao Memorial Prize for Junior faculty : Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani, Professor of Microbiology, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam.
5. The Rangaraya Medical College Senior Faculty Award : sponsored by the Department of Microbiology, Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada
6. Dr. Satyanarayana Memorial Prize for Postgraduate Quiz : Sponsored by Dr. M.Rajarajeswari, Professor, Guntur Medical College on the name of her husband, Late Dr. M.Satyanarayana.
7. Gold Medal for Postgraduate student who secured highest marks in the University Post graduate examination : Sponsored by Dr. M.V.Ramanamma, Principal, Siddartha Medical College, Vijayawada

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRIZES :

Click here to read

To download a printable format : Click Here

MEMBERSHIPS :

Click here to download the membership form for IAMM AP Chapter : Click here

Annual Membership : Rs. 250-00

Postgraduate Membership (for 3 years) : Rs. 500-00

Life Membership : Rs. 1000-00

Refer to the CONSTITUTION available on the website for details.

If you need any help or clarifications regarding memberships, please contact : the Treasurer, Dr. K.Prasanthi, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College, Secunderabad (Ph. 9490119539).

Or You may post your questions to our email : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in . They will be appropriately answered.

Existing members can check their details in the Directory (click here).

If you think your details need to be corrected, please mail the details quoting your membership number to our email : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in

Conference 2011 : News

The XIV IAMM AP Chapter Anual Conference 2011 is going to be organized by the Department of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur at Guntur.

The Conference dates are : 7th-9th JANUARY 2011

7th January 2011 (Friday): Preconference CME ( On Automation in Microbiology)

8th (Saturday) and 9th (Sunday), January 2011 : Conference

The dates were preponed ( from February, which was conventional) as DrNTRUHS is conducting the MBBS Exams in February, 2011.

Prizes in the conference :

Prizes for the Senior Faculty (Instituted by Rangaraya Medical College)

Dr C.S.Bhaskaran's Award (For Postgraduates)

Smt B.S.Lakshmi Memorial Prize for Junior Faculty (Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani)

Sri B.Krishna Rao Memorial Prize for Postgraduates (Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani)

In addition, a prize for the winner of the PG Quiz will be awarded from this time. The Prize is being sponsored by Dr. Rajarajeswari, Professor(Rtd.), Guntur Medical College, Guntur.

Also a good news for PGs :

TWO Prizes for best presentations in PG Symposium....!
Dont miss them.


The last dates and other details will be available on the website soon. Please keep visiting.

Robert Koch

Centennial Death Ceremony of the great scientist, Robert Koch was observed on 27th May, 2010.

In this connection, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati conducted a memorial meeting to pay tributes to his great scientist and biologist, the man who is now the partly forgotten captain of an obscure heroic age (as mentioned by Paul deKruif, Microbe Hunters).

The programme started around 11 AM. Dr. B.Vengamma, DM (Neuro), Director, SVIMS unveiled the photograph of Robert Koch.

(A replica of the photograph of Robert Koch, in thinking posture is presented here)



Candles were lit and 2-minute silence was observed by all. After the introductory remarks by Dr. Gururaj Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SVIMS, the Memorial Speech for the day was given by Dr. Vengamma.

Later Dr. Abhijit Chowdhary, Additional Professor of Microiology, SVIMS, spoke on "Koch, Cholera and Calcutta". He vividly gone through the events that led to the discovery of cholera bacillus or the 'comma' bacillus.

Dr. Usha Kalawat, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS, spoke on the "Contributions of Robert Koch" and mentioned how amazingly Koch pioneered and standardized several bacteriological techniques being used today.

Dr. K.K.Sharma, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS discussed the "Influence of Koch on Pasteur".


Finally, Dr. Alladi Mohan, Professor of Medicine, SVIMS, author of the book "Tuberculosis" and several resesarch papers, described the scientific ardour, meticulousness and hard work of Robert Koch in identifying the tuberculous bacillus and several other infectious agents as well as the inspiration Koch generated in his desciples.


During the programme, there was a slide show on Robert Koch, created by Surender, a PhD scholor, SVIMS.


The programme ended with the concluding remarks of Dr Gururaj Kumar.

To Madam

To Madam, with love
( my memories of a great teacher)
By Dr. M.V.Ramanamma, MD
Principal, Siddartha Medical College, Vijayawada


Dr P S Leela Naidu is very critically ill, fighting for her life in ICCU at Apollo hospital. One of her relatives rang me up this morning. She said madam was in coma for the last 10 days. Irreversible brain death. There is no scope of her recovering. She is on ventilator, and her children have to take a call on when to remove the ventilator and let her leave this world peacefully.

I started immediately to see her and share my feelings with her children. As the car dashed through the busy roads of Hyderabad, I closed my eyes and memories of my association with madam flooded back. I went back to the 80s, when I reported to her as a postgraduate........

When I chose Microbiology during my counseling at Kurnool Medical College, everyone in the hall turned their eyes to me in surprise. I remember one of them asking me, “are you new to this place?”

It was after I joined the department that I came to know that no local students would prefer to take Microbiology, as madam was known for her strictness and punctuality. She never tolerated laziness, negligence or irresponsibility.
She read my joining report carefully and asked, ‘are you determined to continue? Or are you leaving after sometime?’ Postgraduates very often left the course in the middle if they had better offers. She had such experience before.
She gave me postings initially for one year in various sections. She briefed me about the curriculum and said I have to work hard every minute, every day, every month, and every year to pass the course in the first attempt. I listened to her as she spoke, looking at the big, learned eyes behind the spectacles and the big almarah of books behind her seat. She knew each one of the books by name, by color, by size and by its place in the almarah.
When she wanted us to get a book, she would tell us all the details so we could easily pick up. And she would say,’ see page…..for this information’. She would be almost always correct!
On the first day of my joining, I sat for reporting near Dr Vijayalakshmi garu, the then Assistant Professor. She was in charge of culture section.
Those were the days when private labs hadn’t yet cropped up in a big manner. We had plenty of work in culture section. Usually the number of samples would cross 200 per day. I learnt ‘inoculating and Grams staining’ on the first day. In the afternoon, as instructed by Dr Vijayalakshmi garu, I brought pre incubated sterile culture plates from the media section, urine samples from the reception, labeled the plates and started inoculating.
Madam went by, in the verandah, observing me working in the lab. I was told later that madam was very happy to see a young postgraduate in the lab on the very first day!!
She was a committed teacher and had great love for the department. She had sculptures of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch made, painted grey and kept at the entrance of the department. Whenever we were upset or sore over her strictness, we used to stand before the statue of Louis Pasteur and vent out our feelings to him. He would listen, looking at us impassively through his wired spectacles.
Madam would be in her seat at the stroke of 9 every morning. We always tried hard to be on time and keep pace with her. However, there were occasions when we would be late, wish her guiltily and sign in the attendance register. She would say, ‘remember, you are now in the position of a teacher, and you should be a role model to students.’ She never shouted nor used harsh words, but made us introspect and try to change ourselves.

She was very systematic in her reporting. Even as head of the department, she used to take one section for reporting everyday. And, you can very well imagine, the lab technicians in charge of that section would grumble!! Plenty of smears, staining, plenty of biochemical tests…they had heavy work when she reported. I used to admire her art of precision. She would leave no stone unturned to identify the culprit, the pathogen.

And, she would be on the dias at the stroke of the hour whenever she had a theory class. There used to be pin drop silence in the classroom. We used to sit in the back benches as postgraduates. I used to feel proud, standing by her side to take attendance after the class.
She loved mycology. Everyday she visited the section, saw the cultures, and admired the microscopic beauty. If it was a tough organism, she referred books, did a few more tests and then finally named the fungus. She always made it a point to send the new strains to referral centres for confirmation. We as postgraduates did all the paper work, and that is how we knew the various standard reference centers. We had many fungal stocks; no dearth of cultures for the examination.
I remember identifying some of the rare pathogens along with her: to name a few, Mycobacterium kansasii, Actinomyces israeli and Madurella mycetomi. I still feel the excitement of those days. I showed it on my face when I saw a moving entamoeba in liver aspirate, crawling segments of Taenia in stool, cryptococci in CSF, or evaginating scolices of Ecchinococcus in hydatid fluid. She probably thought I was like a child. She would often tell me that I was her fourth child.
Eventhough she was after us to write papers, we never realized the importance of publications. She had many to her credit. Somehow we felt that time was not enough for writing papers. Looking back now, I feel that I should have seized the opportunity I had back then, and published more papers.
She was kind and loving. She wrote letters to me about how to take care of my health when I went on maternity leave during my second year of post graduation.
She never accepted any favors. When her son appeared for microbiology examination, she never wanted the examiners to know that she influenced them in any way to pass or award distinction to her son. She went on leave during that period and did not meet the examiners.
The greatest treasure she gave us without hesitancy or a second thought is the knowledge and insight into the subject. She moulded us as part of her job. She never felt that she did us favor. Probably the only gift I gave her all these years was a box of sweets she liked, when I went to her home to inform her about my official success in the examination. She smiled, wished me and said,’yes, now I can accept sweets from you.’
She opted for voluntary retirement at the age of 55, as she felt that she had to take care of her old and ailing father, and she could not do so while doing justice to her job. I still remember the farewell party we gave her on 5th February 1985. Everyone felt bad that she was leaving. She said one sentence: it is good if we leave when everyone wants us to stay, but not when they wait for us to leave.
Nobody could imagine the existence of the department without her at Kurnool. Next day when we went, the department felt empty and forlorn. There was everything else, everybody, except her. We missed her in each wing, in each section.
Now at this juncture of my life, at the age of 57 and having been a post MD teacher for more than 25 years myself, I still feel that I owe to madam Leela Naidu a lot, for having made me what I am. Just like how a parent makes the child sit in his lap, holds the hand and teaches alphabets, she taught me the subject. I learned to love microbiology the way she loved. She never cared for publicity or recognition; she only did what she felt was her duty. Silently she retired to a reclusive life, once she felt she was not able to do justice to her job.
Now she is in hospital, on ventilator for the past 15days. Seeing her in ICCU, unconscious and all gadgets all over her body, a sharp pain pierced my heart. I learnt painfully from the doctors that there was no hope of her recovery.
I can only pray to God to relieve her quickly from her suffering. I wish to say out loudly to the whole world that I am proud to be her student.
I owe her a lot; so much that I would be able to repay her only in the next world.

Young Microbiologists and Diagnostic Challenges

Young Microbiologists

 

PROPOSAL IN THE GENERAL BODY MEETING

The following document is the proposal by Dr. D.S.Murty, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, S.V.Medical College, Tirupati, in the general body meeting held on 7th February, 2010.
If you feel that any modifications are required, please give suggestions to us.

You can mail your suggestions to :

iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in (or)

Dr. O.Satyanarayana, General Secretary, IAMM AP Chapter, Department of Microbiology, Rangaraya Medical College, GGH Campus, Kakinada.

The document is also available on website. It facilitates the members who don't have ( or didn't give..!) their email ids to go through the document and give suggestions.

Please send your valuable suggestions before : June 31st 2010

***
Proposal :

This proposal was made in the general body meeting with the following goals :

1. UNIFORM FORMAT : to ensure uniformity in the abstracts submitted for presentations in the conference
2. UNIFORM CUT OFF DATE : for submissions irrespective of the year or place of the annual conference

I. UNIFORM FORMAT :

The idea of uniform format for abstracts was conceived after observing several varieties of 'abstracts'- ranging from:
the shortest abstract with only few lines to the longest abstract running into several pages;
the abstracts submitted by scribbling 'something' on a small piece of paper to the abstracts that were submitted as scanned pictures (including 'as it is' pictures from text books);
abstracts that describe even the common details to the abstracts that just grope around the topic and say 'the results will be discussed later'... etc.

To avoid such 'wide variations', i felt that it is better to have an uniform format.

One more reason for this 'uniform format' is to ensure that the postgraduates get familiarised with the submission of abstrats or papers in a predefined format to the journals of their choice.

The draft prepared by me is presented here : CLICK HERE . It is based on the suggestions provided in the website of IJMM for its authors.

II. UNIFORM DATE :

December 31st of each year can be kept as a cut off date for submission of papers for presentation in the annual conference to be held in February next year. This uniform submission date is : irrespective of the place and actual dates of annual conference and independent of the registration dates.

This facilitates every one of us to gear up and prepare abstracts and submit them rather than waiting for the organising secretary to announce the dates and later murmering that the time is not sufficient or the information was not passed on in time.

The address where to submit the abstracts will be provided up to date on the website.

The rules for different prize categories are also available on the web site ( in "CONSTITUTION") .

Please mail to : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in if you find any difficulty in finding them.

PG QUIZ March 2010

A 28-year old menstruating woman admitted in the emergency room with the following signs and symptoms :

• Fever (40 C);
• WBC : 16,000/cmm;
• Blood pressure : 90/65 mmHg;
• A scarlantiform rash on her trunk , palms and soles;
• Extreme fatigue;
• Vomiting and diarrhea.

1. The patient described here most likely has : (hint: caused by a super antigen)

2. Culture of the menstrual fluid in this case would most likely reveal a predominance of :

3. The most characteristic finding in the history that can be elicited is :


Answer and discuss.

Correct answeres submitted by :
1. Dr. M.V.Ramanamma, Principal, Siddartha Medical College
2. Dr. Haritha, PG, Osmania Medical College
3. Dr. P.Chandrakala, PG, SV Medical College
4. Dr. Sarita
5. Dr. K.Saileela
6. Dr. B.Divya

Waiting for more responses .....