Occupational Health Hazards of Unburnt Tobacco among the 1039 Rural Women Beedi Rollers in the Northern Districts of Telangana State.

Background: Women roll beedis from a young age and expose continuously to unburnt tobacco dust for many years. Due to poverty, ignorance, and lack of literacy, women and young individuals engage in less profitable occupation. The study was conducted in a large sample to know the occupational health morbidities in rural women.

Screening for Severe Illness at Diagnosis Has the Potential to Prevent Early TB Deaths: Programmatic Experience From Karnataka, India.

Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and its associated response, TB deaths increased for the first time in a decade. In any potentially fatal illness, an assessment of severity is essential. This is not systematically done for adults with TB, mostly due to a lack of policy and/or limited availability of diagnostic and clinical capacity.

Impact of Steam Inhalation, Saline Gargling, and Povidone-Iodine Gargling on Clinical Outcome of COVID-19 Patients in Bengaluru, Karnataka: A Randomized Control Trial.

Context: In the absence of any specific treatment available for COVID-19, people started practicing traditional nonpharmacological preventive home remedies such as salt water gargling and steam inhalation. The available research evidence on some of these measures opines that steam inhalation, saline gargling, and povidone-iodine gargling does have virucidal properties and do provide symptomatic relief.

Aims: The aim is to test this hypothesis, and the present trial was undertaken with an objective to assess the effect of steam inhalation, saline gargling, and povidone-iodine gargling among the COVID-19-positive patients with respect to early test negativity and clinical recovery.

Screening adults with tuberculosis for severe illness at notification: programme experience from Gujarat, India.

Background: National tuberculosis (TB) programmes in high-burden countries do not systematically assess severity at diagnosis followed by referral for inpatient care. Due to limited capacity, comprehensive assessment of all TB patients is not practical. In three districts of Gujarat (West India) in June 2021, we determined the feasibility of screening for severe illness by paramedical staff of public facilities and the burden of 'high risk for severe illness' at notification among adults (≥15 y of age) with TB.

Risk factors for non-adherence among people with HIV-associated TB in Karnataka, India: A case-control study.

Setting: Five select districts of Karnataka, India, providing anti-tubercular and antiretroviral therapy (ATT and ART) to people with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) - associated Tuberculosis (TB) through a single window care approach at the ART centres (seven ART centres and 16 link ART centres).

Objectives: To determine the factors associated with non-adherence to concurrent therapy.

Design: We conducted a case-control study involving primary and secondary data collection.