The Department of Infectious diseases which started as Division of Infectious Diseases under the Department of Medicine at KMC Manipal in the year 2015 became a full-fledged independent Department in the year 2019. It is one of the very few Infectious disease departments in the country that offers DM in Infectious diseases, which is the highest academic qualification in medical fields in India. It also trains post graduates from the Department of Internal Medicine who come for regular rotation during their residency program. Faculty are actively guiding PhD students in doctoral studies in chosen infectious diseases.

The Department aims at comprehensive training of candidates in clinical problem solving, logical decision making, acquiring a broad knowledge base and gaining skills in basic and advanced management of Infectious Diseases. The department deals primarily with consultations from other departments and out-patient visits apart from regular in-patients (wards and ICUs). HIV, tuberculosis, tropical infections [(dengue, malaria, scrub typhus, leptospirosis, Kyasanur Forest Diseases (KFD)] and hospital-acquired infections are amongst the several vital areas of infectious diseases that the department works in. The candidates are also trained in emergency and critical care management in ID.

The Department is also part of hospital infection control committee and is actively involved in outbreak investigation and antimicrobial stewardship. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the department has been actively involved in the management of patients with COVID-19. ART (Anti-Retroviral Therapy) Centre has been established at our department, which offers comprehensive care for PLHIV in association with State Aids Control Society and NACO. The candidates will be trained in Department run ART center in partnership with the government, and also other specialty clinics such as Hepatitis clinic, Extrapulmonary TB Clinic, Adult immunization services and travel Clinic.

The candidates will be trained in research by experienced Faculty. The Department of Infectious Diseases has a strong research track record in tropical infections, HIV, Health Care associated Infections, and antimicrobial resistance. The Department is involved with multicentre, multinational investigator-initiated studies and industry sponsored clinical trials. The Department regularly hosts international fellows interested in observerships/ research projects. The department also has many international research and academic collaborations including McGill University, Canada, Mayo clinic, USA, Wayne State University, USA, Charite University, Germany, and Medicine Sans Frontiers (MSF) to name a few.

Dr. Pranatharthi Haran Chandrasekhar, M.D.

Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Awarded

Ongoing

https://manipal.edu/mu/academics/phd.html

Clinical Services: Department of Infectious Disease offers Consultations & Treatment for:

• Undiagnosed Fever (PUO)

• HIV infections

• Tuberculosis treatment

• Anti-retroviral therapy

• General infectious diseases (bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic infections, community and hospital acquired infection

• Infection related to immune deficiency (bone marrow or solid organ transplant recipients)

• Travel medicine (pre-travel and post travel advisory and tropical diseases, prevention, and treatment of travel related infections

• Bone and joint infections

• Infections in Cancer patients

• Infections in surgical patients

• Infections in ICU patients

• Adult immunization and travel immunization

• Patients with animal bites

The Department provides leadership for Infection Control and antimicrobial    stewardship at Kasturba Hospital.

Academic/Teaching:

1.   DM Infectious Diseases- 3-year course

2.   Infectious Diseases Rotation for MD Medicine residents

3.   GHHM - Clinical teaching for Global Health and Humanitarian Medicine students which prepare them for Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene Examination from Royal College of Physicians, UK.

The HOD is the Coordinator of Manipal Center for Infectious Diseases (MACID), with an aim to achieve excellence in infectious diseases research, training through interdisciplinary and international collaborations and to promote translation of knowledge into policy and practice http://macid.manipal.edu/.

List of Ongoing Funded Research Projects

1.                 Gupta N, Chunduru K, Safeer K M, Saravu K. Clinical and laboratory profile of patients with Kyasanur forest disease: A single-centre study of 192 patients from Karnataka, India. J Clin Virol. 2021 Feb;135:104735. doi: 10.1016/j.jcv.2021.104735. Epub 2021 Jan 13. PMID: 33493988.

2.                 Gupta N, Joylin S, Ravindra P, Wilson W, Bhat R, Guddattu V, Neumayr A, Mukhopadhyay C, Saravu K. A diagnostic randomised controlled trial to study the impact of rapid diagnostic tests in patients with Acute febrile illness when compared to conventional diagnostics (DRACO study). J Infect. 2021 Jun;82(6):e6-e8. doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2021.04.001. Epub 2021 Apr 8. PMID: 33838159.

3.                 Kannan K, John R, Kundu D, Dayanand D, Abhilash KPP, Mathuram AJ, Zachariah A, Sathyendra S, Hansdak SG, Abraham OC, Gunasekaran K, Iyadurai R, Abraham AM, Prakash JAJ, Yesudhason BL, Veeraraghavan B, Kavitha ML, Jose LR, Sumana MN, Saravu K, Varghese GM. Performance of molecular and serologic tests for the diagnosis of scrub typhus. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020 Nov 12;14(11):e0008747. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008747. PMID: 33180784; PMCID: PMC7660479.

4.                 Nash M, Kadavigere R, Andrade J, Sukumar CA, Chawla K, Shenoy VP, Pande T, Huddart S, Pai M, Saravu K. Deep learning, computer-aided radiography reading for tuberculosis: a diagnostic accuracy study from a tertiary hospital in India. Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 14;10(1):210. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-56589-3. PMID: 31937802; PMCID: PMC6959311.

5.                 Commons RJ, Simpson JA, Thriemer K, Humphreys GS, Abreha T, Alemu SG, Añez …., Saravu K, The effect of chloroquine dose and primaquine on Plasmodium vivax recurrence: a WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network systematic review and individual patient pooled meta-analysis. Lancet Infect Dis. 2018 Sep;18(9):1025-1034. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30348-7. Epub 2018 Jul 20. PMID: 30033231; PMCID: PMC6105624.

The faculty have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields of infectious diseases and are called upon to advise the policy makers and consulted while framing national guidelines on various diseases. They have been advisors for National antibiotic guidelines, India COVID-19 Guidelines, National Consultation on Kyasanur Forest Disease, Invited experts for CD Alert on “Melioidosis”.

Department of Infectious Diseases was in the forefront of management of COVID-19.  The faculty were recognized by MAHE and Udupi District administration, Indian Medical Association for their services in the management of COVID-19 in the district. The faculty have brought out management protocols, have written chapters in books on COVID-19. They are expert committee members for management of COVID-19 in Udupi district and also for India COVID-19 Guidelines.

The faculty have received seed grant award from Indian Council of Medical Research to carryout research on epidemiology and host factors for antimalarial drug resistance, Science and Engineering Research Board for scrub typhus and German Tropical Medicine grant for Tuberculosis.

The faculty are on the editorial board of BMC Infectious Diseases, PLOS Global Public Health, Oxford Medical Case Reports, Tropical diseases, Travel Medicine and Vaccines and InfezMed.

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Google map      :  https://goo.gl/maps/9Y1pwj86MGjuj89Q8

Email                : id.kmc@manipal.edu

Phone number  : +91- 820- 2923874