Doctor pulls 13cm live worm from man's eye at Fortis Hospital Mumbai

MUMBAI — A doctor in India has pulled a live 13 centimetre-long worm from the eye of an elderly patient who was complaining of persistent pain in an operation reminiscent of a far-fetched alien movie plot. When Dr V. Seetharaman examined 75-year-old patient P.K. Krishnamurthy at Mumbai's Fortis Hospital this week, the eye expert was shocked by the highly unusual sight of the writhing parasite and had to operate speedily to remove it before serious damage was caused. "It was wriggling there under the conjunctiva," Seetharaman told AFP, referring to the thin membrane lining the eye. "It was the first time in my career of 30 years that I had seen such a case." Krishnamurthy had been suffering for more than two weeks with redness and irritation before the doctor pin-pointed the threadlike creature under a microscope on Wednesday. "He was also confused and very much disturbed," said Seetharaman. The specialist removed the 13-centimetre (five-inch) worm by making a small opening in the conjunctiva -- a 15-minute operation that was observed by the patient's horrified wife, Saraswati. "It just kept moving and jumping; it was scary for a bit," she told the Mumbai Mirror. The patient was relieved of his symptoms while the worm, which was alive for another 30 minutes after surgery, was sent to the hospital's microbiologists to be identified. Seetharaman had previously only heard of worms of about two to three centimetres being removed. "Probably this is a record," he said. He suggested the creature could have entered the patient from a cut in his foot or from eating raw or improperly cooked food, before entering the bloodstream and travelling to the eye. "If the worm was not removed it could have gone into the layers of the eye and caused visual loss," he said. "It could have entered the brain and caused major neurological problems." Dr S. Narayani, the hospital's medical director, agreed it was an extremely rare case. "We have a very active ophthalmology department and we have not come across a case like this in the last 10 years," she said.

Fortis Foundation Creates New Guinness World Records™ of 3039 people

...............................(L-R) Nikhil Shukla, Guinness World Records™ India representaMr. Ashish Bhatia, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Mr. Varun Khanna, Regional Director – East & West, ManpreetSohal, Zonal Head ................................................................................................ Vashi (Navi Mumbai), 22nd June 2012: Thousands of school kids today 22nd June 2012 rewrote the record books creating a new Guinness World Records™ for ‘the highest number of people sanitizing their hands simultaneously at a single venue’. The record achievement was attempted at Centre One Mall, Vashi in Navi Mumbai by 3039 total participants, including 2848 kids from 19 schools who accounted for the dominant count. This splendid mass awareness campaign entitled; ‘Clean Hands To Save Life ™’, is a tailored-made, far-reaching, one-of-its kind SIX STEP OF HAND WASH crusade organised by Fortis Foundation in association with the Navi Mumbai District Lions International, Fortis Hiranandani Hospital, Vashi, Navi Mumbai Association of Paediatrics and Indian Association of Occupational Health, Thane and Raigad branch. The record breaking feat was a result of a combined effort by enthusiastic, eager-to-learn students, teachers, community leaders from diverse social backgrounds and strata; to come together to highlight the need and consequence of hand hygiene in maintaining good all-round health. The exclusive event was witnessed by Mr. B B Nayak, a multiple holder of Guinness World Records™, Music Maestro Shri. Shankar Mahadevan and the Guinness World Records™ India representative Mr Nikhil Shukla. Nikhil Shukla, Guinness World Records™ India representative Says “Fortis Foundation today has made a new record of 3039 people to be the most people sanitizing their hands simultaneously. Breaking the prevision record of most people sanitizing their hands simultaneously of 2,258 which was achieved by Kaiser Permanente, San Diego (USA) at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego, California, USA, on 28 September 2011” Mr. Varun Khanna, Regional Director – East & West said, “Large sections of the country’s population have the ‘misconception’ that they do not need to wash their hands which apparently looks clean and will not make them sick. The Clean Hands To Save Life ™ campaign is an attempt to create a platform to tutor students, parents and teachers and the community as a whole. Programs for creating an awareness of hand hygiene is long term activity and would help to educated more than 50,000 kids in the city. Fortis Foundation’s various initiatives educating the children to help themselves to be away from various diseases will support parents to keep kids healthy.” Mr. Ashish Bhatia, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Fortis Healthcare, said: “Clean Hands To Save Life™ is planned to be a national and later an international campaign by Fortis Foundation and we will impact the behavioral pattern of millions of kids worldwide. Our parents taught us how to brush our teeth and massage our gums, we do it today too. However, seldom few parents taught us to brush teeth before going to sleep! Many of us as adults hence don’t brush teeth before going to bed. This impactful training on ‘Six steps of hygiene’ wash by parents today will make a an impact on the next generation” Dr Subash Rao, Secretary, Navi Mumbai Association of Paediatrics said, “Our association with this campaign is primarily driven out of the increased need to educate parents on prevention of highly contagious diseases like typhoid, diarrhea, hepatitis A, and upper respiratory tract diseases. These diseases have seen a rapid rise over the last few years because of urban population’s direct negligence to hand hygiene. According to India’s public health association statistics only 30 percent of Indian populations wash their hands before preparing food, 38 percent wash their hands before eating and just over 53 percent of the country’s populations wash their hands after defecating”. “Clean Hands To Save Life™ is the three-phased campaign that was kick-started with drives to train teachers and school kids, corporate employees along with public awareness campaigns from June 13, 2012. Apart from the partnering schools we received inspiring response from our public contact programmes at Vashi railway station on June 13 and 14, 2012. The corporate contact programmes for creating an awareness of hand hygiene among parents are underway and will be conducted across 100+ corporate entities till September 30, 2012. The awareness drive in the various schools across Navi Mumbai was conducted from June 18 to 21. We will ensure that initiative Fortis Foundation has taken will be great success for community,” said Manpreet Sohal, Zonal Director Mumbai, Fortis Healthcare, Vashi.