1,720,996 research outputs found
[Neisseria meningitidis: new vaccines and preventive strategies]
No full textInvasive disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis raise concern in the population and Public Health Authority is called to propose and test strategies for optimizing resources available for its prevention. Polysaccharide vaccines started the approach to immune prophylaxis, the introduction of conjugate vaccines brought to major advances for the prevention of this disease and the future availability of a vaccine against serogroup B will provide an additional tool to protect the population
[Combined or coadministred Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella Vaccines? That is the question!]
No full textIn November 2011, the Medicine's Italian Agency published the Pediatric Working Group's recommendation; that is do not use the quadruple vaccine against measles, rubella, mumps and varicella as first dosage in children from 12 to 23 months, because it involves an increase of febrile convulsions risks. It caused a big discussion between international and national Scientific and Institutional Bodies. In Italy, varicella is the most common vaccine preventable disease and preventive measures are not uniform. Clear and universally accepted indication is needed
Nosocomial rotavirus infection: An up to date evaluation of European studies
No full textRotavirus (RV) is worldwide considered as the most important viral agent of acute gastroenteritis in children less than 5 y. Since 2006, the availability of anti-RV vaccines has deeply modified the incidence and economic burden of RV infection. In Europe, some countries have introduced an anti-RV vaccination program in the last 10 y. Although community acquired RV (CARV) disease is the most studied condition of RV infection, recently some authors have highlighted the importance of nosocomial RV (nRV) disease as an emerging public health issue. The aim of this review is to summarize the epidemiology of both CARV and nRV, in order to discuss the difficulty of a clear evaluation of the burden of the disease in absence of comparable data. In particular, we focused our attention to European studies regarding nRV in terms of divergences related to definition, report of incidence rate and methodological issues
Italian Physicians' Opinions on Rotavirus Vaccine Implementation
Full text linkRotavirus (RV) infection is the main cause of severe acute gastroenteritis (GE) in the pediatric population and has a major impact in both developing and industrialized countries. The reduction of severe RVGE cases, followed by death or hospitalization, is considered the main benefit of RV vaccination, even though its implementation often faces obstacles. In Italy, the recently approved National Immunization Plan aims to overcome the differences among regions, offering a universal free RV vaccination. The aim of the study was to evaluate the opinions on benefit and acceptability of RV vaccination related to the perception of the burden of RV disease. Data were collected from 108 physicians in 2015 by a questionnaire consisting of 12 questions; some answers were compared with those obtained with a similar tool in 2011. The majority of respondents (76.2%) was convinced of the benefit of the vaccine and 57.4% recommended it routinely, but more than half indicated a <25% adherence to RV vaccination among their patients. As the main reasons of vaccine refusal, skepticism about the vaccine (60.4%) and its cost (34.1%) were indicated. Our data confirm that more information and counselling are needed to increase RV vaccine coverage
Hepatitis A: epidemiology and prevention in developing countries
No full textHepatitis A is the most common form of acute viral hepatitis in the world. Major geographical differences in endemicity of hepatitis A are closely related to hygienic and sanitary conditions and other indicators of the level of socioeconomic development. The anti-hepatitis A virus (HAV) seroprevalence rate is presently decreasing in many parts of the world, but in less developed regions and in several developing countries, HAV infection is still very common in the first years of life and seroprevalence rates approach 100%. In areas of intermediate endemicity, the delay in the exposure to the virus has generated a huge number of susceptible adolescents and adults and significantly increased the average age at infection. As the severity of disease increases with age, this has led to outbreaks of hepatitis A. Several factors contribute to the decline of the infection rate, including rising socioeconomic levels, increased access to clean water and the availability of a hepatitis A vaccine that was developed in the 1990s. For populations with a high proportion of susceptible adults, implementing vaccination programs may be considered. In this report, we review available epidemiological data and implementation of vaccination strategies, particularly focusing on developing countries
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