Action against vaccine-preventable infectious diseases and tuberculosis in Nomad Camps: the experience of a Local Health Unit in Rome.

ABSTRACT

In Italy the highest incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) cases is in young adult migrants. In 2011, the sanitarystaff of the Local Health Unit (ASL) Roma A promoted a vaccination campaign conducting several public health interventions in Nomad Camps. After notification of a case of TB in the Camp of Via Salaria, out of 357 Mantoux skin tests performed, 93 were positive (26%); subsequently, 5 subjects with radiographic positivity were hospitalized. The vaccination campaign was carried out to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in immigrant communities at high risk of contagion and to avoid the consequent transmission in the host country. As a result, vaccinations coverage among the residents of the Camps increased 367 vaccinated subjects (30% more than previous year) and 612 administered vaccinations.