@article {46698, title = {Comprehensive metagenomic insights into a unique mass gathering and bathing event reveals transient influence on a riverine ecosystem}, journal = {Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety}, volume = {202}, year = {2020}, month = {OCT }, pages = {110938}, type = {Article}, abstract = {

The religious mass gathering and bathing can pose a multitude of significant public health challenges and lead to severe alterations in the river microbial ecology. The Pandharpur Wari is an annual pilgrimage of Maharashtra, India, where millions of devotees carry the footprints of the saint-poets and pay their obeisance to Lord Vitthal on the 11th day of moon{\textquoteright}s waxing phase (Ashadi Ekadashi). As a part of the ritual, the engrossed devotees, walk over 250 km, take a first holy dip in a sacred river Indrayani at Alandi and secondly in Bhima River at Pandharpur. The MinION-based shotgun metagenomic approach was employed to examine the impact of spiritual mass bathing on environmental changes (concerning the river microbial community structure and functions); and public health aspects (in terms of changes in the pathogenic potential and antibiotic resistance). The analysis of bathing and post-bathing samples of both the rivers revealed alterations in the alpha and beta diversity, indicating significant spatiotemporal variations in the overall microbial structure and function. Furthermore, the analysis revealed up to 80\% of differences in the abundance of virulence genes between the bathing and post bathing samples. We observed parallel increase of priority skin and enteric pathogens (ranging from 11\% to 80\%) such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa during the bathing event. Moreover, we observed a significant increase in the antibiotic resistance in the bathing samples of Bhima and Indrayani rivers respectively. Altogether, this is the first comprehensive metagenomic study unravelling the influence of religious mass-bathing on the riverine ecosystem.

}, keywords = {Antibiotic resistance, Mass bathing, MinION sequencing, Priority pathogens, Virulence genes}, issn = {0147-6513}, doi = {10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110938}, author = {Yadav, Rakeshkumar and Rajput, Vinay and Gohil, Kushal and Khairnar, Krishna and Dharne, Mahesh} } @article {47624, title = {COVID-19 associated mucormycosis: evolving technologies for early and rapid diagnosis}, journal = {3 Biotech}, volume = {12}, year = {2022}, month = {JAN}, pages = {6}, type = {Review}, abstract = {The post-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) mucormycosis is a deadly addition to the pandemic spectrum. Although it{\textquoteright}s a rare, aggressive, and opportunistic disease, the associated morbidity and mortality are significant. The complex interplay of factors aggravating CAM is uncontrolled diabetes, irrational and excessive use of antibiotics, steroids, and an impaired immune system. Recently, India has been witnessing a rapid surge in the cases of coronavirus disease-associated mucormycosis (CAM), since the second wave of COVID-19. The devastating and lethal implications of CAM had now become a matter of global attention. A delayed diagnosis is often associated with a poor prognosis. Therefore, the rapid and early diagnosis of infection would be life-saving. Prevention and effective management of mucormycosis depend upon its early and accurate diagnosis followed by a multimodal therapeutic approach. The current review summarizes an array of detection methods and highlights certain evolving technologies for early and rapid diagnosis of CAM. Furthermore, several potential management strategies have also been discussed, which would aid in tackling the neglected yet fatal crisis of mucormycosis associated with COVID-19.}, keywords = {Biosensors, COVID-19, Diagnostics, Mucormycosis, Probiotics}, issn = {2190-572X}, doi = {10.1007/s13205-021-03080-4}, author = {Samson, Rachel and Dharne, Mahesh} } @article {48489, title = {Comparative evaluation of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for reducing SARS-CoV-2 viral load from campus sewage water}, journal = {Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering}, volume = {11}, year = {2023}, month = {JUN}, pages = {109673}, type = {Article}, abstract = {

Presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater is a major concern as the wastewater meets rivers and other water bodies and is used by the population for various purposes. Hence it is very important to treat sewage water in an efficient manner in order to reduce the public health risk. In the present work, various advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been evaluated for disinfection of SARS-CoV-2 from sewage water collected from STP inlet of academic institutional residential. The sewage water was subjected to ten AOPs, which include Ozone (O3), Hydrodynamic cavitation (HC), Ultraviolet radiation (UV), and their hybrid combinations like HC/O3, HC/O3/ H2O2, HC/H2O2, O3/UV, UV/H2O2, UV/H2O2/O3, and O3/H2O2 to reduce SARS-CoV-2 viral load. Further, AOP treated sewage water was subjected to total nucleic acid isolation followed by RT-qPCR for viral load estimation. The sewage water treatment techniques were evaluated based on their viral concentration-reducing efficiency. It was found that ozone and ozone-coupled hybrid AOPs showed the most promising result with more than 98 \% SARS-CoV-2 viral load reducing efficiency from sewage water. Interestingly, the best six AOPs used in this study significantly reduced both the SARS-CoV-2 and PMMoV (faecal indicator) viral load and improved water quality in terms of increasing DO and decreasing TOC.

}, keywords = {AOPs and hybrid AOPs, Hydrodynamic cavitation, Ozonation, PMMoV, SARS-CoV-2, Sewage water treatment}, issn = {2213-2929}, doi = {10.1016/j.jece.2023.109673}, author = {Pramanik, Rinka and Bodawar, Narendra and Brahme, Aashay and Kamble, Sanjay and Dharne, Mahesh} } @article {49548, title = {Characterization of novel phages KPAФ1, KP149Ф1, and KP149Ф2 for lytic efficiency against clinical MDR Klebsiella pneumoniae infections}, journal = {Microbial Pathogenesis}, volume = {202}, year = {2025}, month = {MAY}, pages = {107440}, type = {Article}, abstract = {

Phage therapy offers a promising approach to the increasing antimicrobial resistance of Klebsiella pneumoniae. This study highlights three novel lytic bacteriophages-KPAc1, KP149c1, and KP149c2-targeting multidrugresistant (MDR) K. pneumoniae. These phages belong to the Myoviridae and Podoviridae family and demonstrate their efficacy and stability across a wide range of temperatures (up to 60 degrees C) and pH levels (pH 4 to 11). Genomic analysis reveals that they are free from virulence, toxicity, and antimicrobial resistance genes, making them promising candidates for therapeutic use. Among these phages, KPAc1 showed the highest lytic activity with a 26.15\% lysis against MDR K. pneumoniae isolates. Additionally, a phage cocktail comprising all three phages improved lytic efficacy to 32.30\%. This study also examined the antimicrobial resistance profiles of K. pneumoniae isolates, emphasizing the critical need for alternative treatments. By effectively targeting resistant strains, these phages offer a potential candidacy to be used as a viable alternative or a complementary antimicrobial agent to traditional antibiotics, opening up the possibility for advanced phage-based therapies. The promising results from this study pave the way for developing new treatments that could significantly improve patient care and outcomes from the growing issue of resistant bacterial infections.

}, keywords = {Antimicrobial resistance, Bacteriophage, MDR-Klebsiella pneumoniae, Phage cocktail, Phage therapy}, issn = {0882-4010}, doi = {10.1016/j.micpath.2025.107440}, author = {Dandekar, Shraddha S. and Thanikkal, Sinta and Londhe, Arti and Bhutada, Pankhudi and Saha, Ujjayni and Pawar, Shubhankar and Samson, Rachel and Dharne, Mahesh and Saroj, Sunil D. and Koratkar, Santosh} }