Towards elimination of measles and rubella in Italy. Progress and challenges

Introduction In the WHO European Region, endemic transmission of measles and rubella had been interrupted by 37 and 42 of the 53 member states (MSs), respectively, by 2018. Sixteen MSs are still endemic for measles, 11 for rubella and nine for both diseases, the latter including Italy. Elimination is documented by each country’s National Verification Committee (NVC) through an annual status update (ASU). Objective By analysing data used to produce the ASUs, we aimed to describe the advances made by Italy towards elimination of measles and rubella. Moreover, we propose a set of major interventions that could facilitate the elimination process. Methods A total of 28 indicators were identified within the six core sections of the ASU form and these were evaluated for the period 2013–2018. These indicators relate to the incidence of measles/rubella; epidemiological investigation of cases; investigation of outbreaks; performance of the surveillance system; population immunity levels; and implementation of supplemental immunization activities (SIAs). Results From 2013 to 2018, epidemiological and laboratory analyses of measles cases in Italy improved substantially, allowing timely investigation in 2017 and 2018 of most outbreak and sporadic cases and identification of the majority of genotypic variants. Moreover, since 2017, vaccination coverage has increased significantly. Despite these improvements, several areas of concern emerged, prompting the following recommendations: i) improve outbreak monitoring; ii) strengthen the MoRoNet network; iii) increase the number of SIAs; iv) reinforce vaccination services; v) maintain regional monitoring; vi) design effective communication strategies; vii) foster the role of general practitioners and family paediatricians. Conclusions The review of national ASUs is a crucial step to provide the NVC with useful insights into the elimination process and to guide the development of targeted interventions. Against this background, the seven recommendations proposed by the NVC have been shared with the Italian Ministry of Health and the Technical Advisory Group on measles and rubella elimination and have been incorporated into the new Italian Elimination Plan 2019–2023 as a technical aid to facilitate the achievement of disease elimination goals

Halitosis and the pH variation with four mouthwashes

Poster apresentado no XXV Congresso da Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas, 10-12 Novembro 2016. Porto, PortugalSob uma licença CC-BY-NC - http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/Introduction: It is estimated that the prevalence of halitosis, varies between 2-44% at world population. It is suggested that the oral pH value is an important factor on the oral microbiota composition which has impact in gaseous breath constitution (2).The aim of this study was to compare the effect of four mouthwashes on salivary pH values, over time.N/

Joint analysis of coastal altimetry and high-frequency (HF) radar data: observability of seasonal and mesoscale ocean dynamics in the Bay of Biscay

Land-based coastal high-frequency (HF) radar systems provide operational measurements of coastal surface currents (within 1–3&thinsp;m depth) with high spatial (300&thinsp;m–10&thinsp;km) and temporal ( ≤ 1&thinsp;h) sampling resolutions, while the near-continuous altimetry missions provide information, from 1993 until today, on geostrophic currents in the global ocean with typical along-track and temporal sampling resolutions of  &gt; 7&thinsp;km and  &gt; 9 days, respectively. During the last years, the altimetry community has made a step forward in improving these data in the coastal area, where the data present lower quality than in the open ocean. The combination of HF radar and altimetry measurements arises as a promising strategy to improve the continuous monitoring of the coastal area (e.g. by expanding the measurements made by HF radars to adjacent areas covered by the altimetry or by validating/confirming improvements brought by specific coastal algorithms or new altimeter missions). A first step towards this combination is the comparison of both data sets in overlapping areas.In this study, a HF radar system and two Jason-2 satellite altimetry products with different processing are compared over the period from 1 January 2009 to 24 July 2015. The results provide an evaluation of the performance of different coastal altimetry data sets within the study area and a better understanding of the ocean variability contained in the HF radar and altimetry data sets. Both observing systems detect the main mesoscale processes within the study area (the Iberian Poleward Current and mesoscale eddies), and the highest correlations between radar and altimetry (up to 0.64) occur in the slope where the Iberian Poleward Current represents a significant part of the variability in the circulation. Besides, the use of an Ekman model, to add the wind-induced current component to the altimetry-derived geostrophic currents, increases the agreement between both data sets (increasing the correlation by around 10&thinsp;%).</p

Initial impact of SARS-Cov-2 vaccination on healthcare workers in Italy. Update on the 28th of march 2021

In Italy, the COVID-19 vaccination campaign started in December 2020 with the vaccination of healthcare workers (HCW). To analyse the real-life impact that vaccination is having on this population group, we measured the association between week of diagnosis and HCW status using log-binomial regression. By the week 22–28 March, we observed a 74% reduction (PPR 0.26; 95% CI 0.22–0.29) in the proportion of cases reported as HCW and 81% reduction in the proportion of symptomatic cases reported as HCW, compared with the week with the lowest proportion of cases among HCWs prior to the vaccination campaign (31 August-7 September). The reduction, both in relative and absolute terms, of COVID-19 cases in HCWs that started around 30 days after the start of the vaccination campaign suggest that COVID-19 vaccines are being effective in preventing infection in this group

Study of dimuon production in Indium-Indium collisions with the NA60 experiment

The NA60 experiment at the CERN-SPS is devoted to the study of dimuon production in heavy-ion and proton-nucleus collisions. We present preliminary results from the analysis of Indium-Indium collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon. The topics covered are low mass vector meson production, J/psi production and suppression, and the feasibility of the open charm measurement from the dimuon continuum in the mass range below the J/psi peak.Comment: Contribution at XXXXth Rencontres de Moriond, "QCD and High Energy Hadronic Interactions

Molecular epidemiology of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Italian cystic fibrosis patients: A national overview

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Has VZV epidemiology changed in Italy? Results of a seroprevalence study

The aim of the study was to evaluate if and how varicella prevalence has changed in Italy. In particular a seroprevalence study was performed, comparing it to similar surveys conducted in pre-immunization era. During 2013–2014, sera obtained from blood samples taken for diagnostic purposes or routine investigations were collected in collaboration with at least one laboratory/center for each region, following the approval of the Ethics Committee. Data were stratified by sex and age. All samples were processed in a national reference laboratory by an immunoassay with high sensitivity and specificity. Statutory notifications, national hospital discharge database and mortality data related to VZV infection were analyzed as well. A total of 3707 sera were collected and tested. In the studied period both incidence and hospitalization rates decreased and about 5 deaths per year have been registered. The seroprevalence decreased in the first year of life in subjects passively protected by their mother, followed by an increase in the following age classes. The overall antibody prevalence was 84%. The comparison with surveys conducted with the same methodology in 1996–1997 and 2003–2004 showed significant differences in age groups 1–19&nbsp;y. The study confirms that in Italy VZV infection typically occurs in children. The impact of varicella on Italian population is changing. The comparison between studies performed in different periods shows a significant increase of seropositivity in age class 1–4&nbsp;years, expression of vaccine interventions already adopted in some regions

Promoção do consumo de frutas, legumes e verduras junto a comunidades atendidas pelo Programa Saúde da Família (PSF) e Programa de Agentes Comunitários de Saúde (PACS): diagnóstico inicial.

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Measurement of an excess in the yield of J/ψ\psi at very low pTp_{\rm T} in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of an excess in the yield of J/$\psi$ at very low transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}< 0.3$ GeV/$c$) in peripheral hadronic Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, performed by ALICE at the CERN LHC. Remarkably, the measured nuclear modification factor of J/$\psi$ in the rapidity range $2.5<y<4$ reaches about 7 (2) in the $p_{\rm T}$ range 0-0.3 GeV/$c$ in the 70-90% (50-70%) centrality class. The J/$\psi$ production cross section associated with the observed excess is obtained under the hypothesis that coherent photoproduction of J/$\psi$ is the underlying physics mechanism. If confirmed, the observation of J/$\psi$ coherent photoproduction in Pb-Pb collisions at impact parameters smaller than twice the nuclear radius opens new theoretical and experimental challenges and opportunities. In particular, coherent photoproduction accompanying hadronic collisions may provide insight into the dynamics of photoproduction and nuclear reactions, as well as become a novel probe of the Quark-Gluon Plasma.Comment: 18 pages, 3 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 13, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/191