Cross-sectional study of influenza trends and costs in Malaysia between 2016 and 2018.

Background And Objectives: While influenza circulates year-round in Malaysia, research data on its incidence is scarce. Yet, this information is vital to the improvement of public health through evidence-based policies. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to determine the trends and financial costs of influenza.

Resistance patterns of multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in an ICU of a tertiary care hospital, Malaysia.

Backgrounds & Objective: Antimicrobial resistance is a major health problem worldwide in hospitals. The main contributing factors are exposures to broad-spectrum antimicrobials and cross-infections. Understanding the extent and type of antimicrobial use in tertiary care hospitals will aid in developing national antimicrobial stewardship priorities.

Species distribution and antifungal susceptibility patterns of Candida species: Is low susceptibility to itraconazole a trend in Malaysia?

Resistance to antifungal agents has increased in Candida spp., especially in non-albicans species. Recent findings reported a strikingly low susceptibility in Candida spp.

Possible origins and evolution of the hepatitis B virus (HBV).

All members of the family Hepadnaviridae are primarily viruses which contain double-stranded DNA genomes that are replicated via reverse transcription of a pregenomic RNA template. There are two subgroups within this family: mammalian and avian. The avian member's include the duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV), heron hepatitis B virus, Ross goose hepatitis B virus, stork hepatitis B virus and the recently identified parrot hepatitis B virus.

Cryptococcus humicolus meningitis: first case report in Malaysia.

We report a case of Cryptococcus humicolus meningitis complicated by communicating hydrocephalus in an apparently immunocompetent 49-year-old psychiatric patient from a nursing home. He presented with a history of poor oral intake, weight loss, headache, vomiting, blurred vision, frequent falls and unsteady gait for the previous three months. He had a history of chronic cough, productive of whitish sputum for the previous month but no hemoptysis.

Antimicrobial susceptibility pattern and distribution of exoU and exoS in clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa at a Malaysian hospital.

This study was conducted to determine the antibiotic susceptibility pattern and distribution of exoU and exoS among 44 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa collected from different patients over a 3-month period in 2010 at a major Malaysian hospital. Susceptibility data by disk diffusion method for cefepime (30 microg), ceftazidime (30 microg), gentamicin (10 microg), piperacillin-tazobactam (100/10 microg) and ciprofloxacin (5 microg) were available for 38 isolates.

Screening and detection of heterogenous vancomycin intermediate Staphylococcus aureus in Hospital Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, using the glycopeptide resistance detection Etest and population analysis profiling.

In a 3-month study done in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), 7 out of 320 methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates were confirmed as heterogeneous vancomycin intermediate S. aureus (hVISA) using the glycopeptide resistance detection e-test and population analysis, giving a prevalence rate of 2.19%.