Doctors at the KIMSHEALTH Infectious Disease Department diagnose and treat people with various acquired infections and opportunistic by following accepted guidelines based on evidence.

Consultation is available all day and night to handle inpatients. It includes general infectious disease consultation services, along with specialised services for bone and joint infections, neuro infections, and organ or bone marrow transplants complication.

The Department of Infectious Disease plays a key role in this goal by offering expertise and guidance. Its Hospital Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Stewardship section supports efforts to prevent infections and careful use antibiotics.

Some types of infectious diseases include:

• Viral infections: Viruses carry DNA or RNA inside a protective coat.
• Bacterial infections: Bacteria are tiny single-celled organisms that use a small strand of DNA to function.
• Fungal infections: These infections happen when fungi grow too much or enter parts of the body where they don’t belong. Fungi exist in your body and in the environment, but they can cause sickness in these cases.
• Parasitic infections: These infections occur when parasites survive by living off other organisms.
• Prion diseases: Also known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, these diseases develop because of abnormal proteins that cause other proteins to malfunction. Prions are a very rare source of infectious illness.

What Makes Our Department Stand Out

We are the only Infectious Diseases department in the region with fully qualified consultants.

• Experts from transplant, surgery, oncology, and critical care teams work together.
• Consultants provide quick responses to sepsis and drug-resistant infections .
• With leadership in infection control and antimicrobial stewardship, the institute has received recognition from global and national organisations.
• The team contributes to clinical research and has many papers published indeed journals, adding to knowledge of infectious diseases worldwide.
• It stands as the only institute in Kerala offering a post doctoral Infectious Diseases program (DrNB )to develop academic expertise and clinical leaders in the field.
• A modern microbiology lab supports the institute, featuring advanced equipments.
• Molecular diagnostic tools like FilmArray syndromic panels
• Automated systems such as BacT/ALERT for blood cultures and VITEK 2 for susceptibility testing
• An equipped TB lab with capabilities to perform AFB smear culture using MGIT and molecular-based testing
• Complete facilities to test for HIV and other transmitted diseases

Treatments and Procedures Available at KIMSHEALTH

Doctors at the Department of Infectious Disease at KIMSHEALTH provide care and services which include but are not limited to:

• Infectious Diseases in general
• Vaccines for teens and adults
• Managing and treating Tuberculosis
• HIV care and medicine
• Identifying and treating transmitted diseases
• Preventive care after exposure
• Preventive measures before exposure
• Health advice for travel
• Care for infections in weakened immune or transplant patients
• Figuring out and treating fever with no known cause
• Managing bone and joint Infections like prosthetic joint issues
• Treating complicated or drug-resistant infections
• Controlling hospital-based infections
• Responsible use of antibiotics

The Microbiology department offers these services:

Automated blood culture system and susceptibility testing: BacT/ALERT and VITEK 2 assist in quick and precise detection of pathogens. They also identify which antibiotics can work against them, helping doctors treat infections.

Complete TB lab: The laboratory supports AFB smear tests, MGIT culture, and GeneXpert molecular tools. It is designed to detect tuberculosis from multiple angles.

Molecular diagnostic tools like FilmArray panels: Advanced methods allow the lab to test for various infectious diseases fast. These panels perform multiple tests at once to catch infections.

Mycology Laboratory: The lab is dedicated to identifying fungal infections. Experts use culture, microscopes, and DNA-based methods for diagnosis.

Comprehensive HIV testing services: Provides HIV ECLIA p24 antigen, RNA viral load, CD4 counts, and resistance tests to monitor and manage the condition.

Testing facility for transmitted infections: Delivers diagnostic options to detect syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, and additional Sexually Transmitted Infection with modern methods.