Annali dell'Istituto Superiore di Sanità
Not a member yet
755 research outputs found
Sort by
Blackflies (Simulium spp.) attacks on humans and animals in Rome and surrounding areas (Central Italy)
Get PDFBackground. Due to their abundance in some environments, the blood-sucking habit and the involvement in the transmission of several diseases, blackflies of the genus Simulium (Diptera: Simuliidae) can be considered among the most annoying biting arthropods. Methods. Following repeated attacks to humans and animals, entomological investigations were carried out in green areas of Rome and surroundings. Site and period of attacks were reported, together with the human and animal reactions to the bites.Results. Four Simulium species have been identified through morphological or molecular analysis: Simulium intermedium, Simulium lineatum, Simulium lundstromi and Simulium ornatum (complex). Larval breeding sites were identified in small moats, where a high density of blackflies larvae and pupae was revealed.Conclusions. Being able to thrive in highly polluted water, even in few mm depth watercourses, some blackfly species are widely distributed in the area and their bites caused mild to severe reactions to humans and animals
The challenge of complexity in the Big Data era: how to ride the wave of highdimensional data revolution
Get PDFAbstrac
Characteristics of COVID-19 cases in Italy from a sex/gender perspective
Get PDFIntroduction. Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To date, few data on clinical features and risk factors for disease severity and death by gender are available.Aim. The current study aims to describe from a sex/gender perspective the characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 cases occurred in the Italian population from February 2020 until October 2021.Method and results. We used routinely collected data retrieved from the Italian National Surveillance System. The highest number of cases occurred among women between 40 and 59 years, followed by men in the same age groups. The proportion of deaths due to COVID-19 was higher in men (56.46%) compared to women (43.54%). Most of the observeddeaths occurred in the elderly. Considering the age groups, the clinical outcomes differed between women and men in particular in cases over 80 years of age; with serious or critical conditions more frequent in men than in women.Conclusions. Our data clearly demonstrate a similar number of cases in women and men, but with more severe disease and outcome in men, thus confirming the importance to analyse the impact of sex and gender in new and emerging diseases
The Italian fund for Alzheimer’s and other dementias: strategies and objectives to face the dementia challenge
Get PDFThe Italian Fund for Alzheimer’s and other dementias was approved and signed in December 2021. The Fund is financed with 15 million euros in three years. The main goal is to provide new strategies in the field of dementia with a Public Health perspective. The Fund includes eight main activities that will be monitored and supervised by the Italian National Institute of Health: 1) development of a guideline for the assessment, management and support for people with dementia and their families/carers; 2) updating of the Dementia National Plan (DNP); 3) implementation of the documents of the DNP; 4) conducting surveys dedicated to the Italian Dementia Services; 5) promotion of dementia prevention strategies; 6) training strategies for healthcare professionals, families and caregivers; 7) creation of a National Electronic Record for Dementia; 8) evaluation and monitoring of activities promoted by Regions and Autonomous Provinces in the field ofdementia, together with the dementia National Permanent Table. These activities are outlined in detail in the present paper
Where we are in the fight against Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections. The opinion of the Stakeholders of the European Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and Healthcare-Associated Infections (EU-JAMRAI)
Get PDFDuring the second European Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Healthcare-Associated Infections (HCI) (EU-JAMRAI) annual meeting, the Evaluation Team elicited stakeholders’ opinions regarding the implementation of the National Strategies and Action Plans to fight AMR and HCI, the One Health integration and the EU-JAMRAI support to the national and EU authorities in two Focus Groups.
This qualitative exercise contributed to identify criticalities and possible improvements in aspects such as political priorities, legislation/legal requirements, human and financial resources, and supervision in many health sectors to ensure effective implementation of the action plans. Stakeholders pointed out at the different speed of EU member states, in particular concerning the One Health integration in the plans. Finally, the Stakeholders strongly asked the EU-JAMRAI to reinforce the integration and dissemination of the best practices and results, to help policymakers at national and European levels in defining and implementing harmonized policies and actions against AMR and HCI
The long journey of people with rare diseases: from darkness to the UN Resolution 2021
Get PDFNo abstract, the article is an editoria
Key performance indicators of breast cancer screening programmes in Italy, 2011-2019
Get PDFIntroduction: Performance indicators for organised breast cancer screening programmes in Italy, 2011-2019, were evaluated.
Materials and Methods: Aggregated data were gathered by the National Centre for Screening Monitoring from over 150 regional or sub-regional screening programmes in Italy. Invitation and examination coverage, participation rate (PR), recall rate (RR), detection rate positive predictive value (PPV) for the target population as a whole (women aged 50-69), by 5-year age-class, geographical macro-area (North, Centre, South-Islands) and Region were estimated.
Results: Coverage showed an increasing positive trend, especially in the South-Islands, and PR was stable all over Italy. A negative increasing RR and decreasing PPV were recorded, especially at the first screening test and in some regions.
Discussion and Conclusions: The positive increase in coverage is accompanied by a worsening of some performance indicators for which a better resource allocation and staff training are required. For this reason further and continuous monitoring is mandatory.
Case series of Chlorophyllum molybdites intoxication in Sicily: an “alien” mushroom species in Europe
Get PDFIntroduction. Mushroom poisoning is an important cause of intoxication worldwide. The toxic mechanism remains frequently unknown and the diffusion of non-endemic species may cause the emergence of new syndromes. An example is the widespread of Chlorophyllum molybdites in Sicily.Case series. Pavia Poison Centre was recently involved in the management of 10 intoxications caused by the ingestion of Chlorophyllum molybdites, which was not considered part of the Italian mycological species. The clinical syndrome was characterized by severe gastrointestinal symptoms. In paediatric or vulnerable patients, it may bring to hypovolemicshock that necessitate intensive support. The possibly confusion with amatoxinscontaining mushrooms may complicate the management.Conclusions. Chlorophyllum molybdites is widespread on the oriental coast of Sicily and it could be confused with “parasol mushrooms”. Cooperation between emergency physicians, clinical toxicologist and mycologist, supported by improving of laboratory tests, is essential for the appropriate clinical management. Climate changes and migration flows can interfere with the diffusion of new species and the development of novel syndromes
Searching for an alliance with journalism: a survey to investigate health literacy in Italy: Health literacy in Italian journalists
No full textObjectives. This study (GLASS) aimed to estimate low Health Literacy (HL) prevalence among journalists and general population and investigate factors associated with low HL.
Methods. GLASS was an Italian online cross-sectional study. Questionnaires included instruments for different HL dimensions: Single Item Literacy Screener (SILS), Medical Term Recognition Test (METER) and Medical Data Interpretation Test (MDIT). For each instrument, multivariable regressions were performed.
Results. Participants were 665. A total of 24.6%, 85.0%, and 58.9% journalists and 19.5%, 77.8%, and 62.6% general population reported low HL (SILS, METER, MDIT, respectively). Mainly, regressions showed journalists who had never written about health and journalists who had personally written about health without being medical journalists had a higher likelihood of reporting low HL.
Conclusion.Our findings are alarming as journalists are key players in public health, especially in the current infodemic. It would be advisable to bolster a stronger collaboration between journalism and science