Prevalence of anti-parvovirus B19 IgG and IgM and parvovirus B19 viremia in pregnant women in an urban area of Northern Italy.

Parvovirus B19 (B19V) infection in pregnancy is mostly asymptomatic, but can cause complications including abortion and fetal hydrops. Although its infection is ubiquitous, seroprevalence among pregnant women varies according to different geographical areas. Since seroprevalence data in Italy are limited, the prevalence of antibodies and DNA in pregnant women was evaluated retrospectively, correlating the clinical situation of mothers and newborns. One thousand eight hundred and ninety-three sequential sera were examined from pregnant women (60.8% in the first trimester, 16.6% in the second one, and 22.6% in the third one, respectively) for anti-B19V IgG and IgM (confirmed by immunoblot); 1402 (74.1%) were of Italian origin and 491 (25.9%) non-Italian women. Molecular tests were used to search for viral genome. One thousand three hundred and fifteen (69.5%) samples were IgG-positive, 21 (1.1%) IgM-positive, and 578 (30.5%) nonimmune. The difference in IgG seroprevalence between Italian (71.1%) and non-Italian women (64.8%) was statistically significant. Of the 21 IgM-positive women, 16 were confirmed positive also by immunoblot (prevalence: 0.8%), of which 11 were viraemic (prevalence: 0.6%; mean 1.3 × 104 geq/ml). Mothers were asymptomatic, and the newborns had no clinical signs of congenital infection. IgG seroprevalence in Italy is high, with differences between Italian women and non-Italian women from geographic areas with lower endemic levels of B19V. The consistent migratory flows in place could lead to an increase in the number of susceptible women. The prevalence of viremia is low, and has not been associated with evident fetal damage at birth.

Invasive and Non-Invasive Human Salmonellosis Cases Admitted between 2015 and 2021 in Four Suburban Hospitals in the Metropolitan Area of Milan (Italy): A Multi-Center Retrospective Study.

Non-Typhoidal Salmonellas (NTSs) are diffused worldwide. In Italy, more than 3500 cases are notified each year, but despite this, data about salmonellosis are scarce. Our multi-center, retrospective, descriptive study selected 252 patients with positive cultures for Salmonella spp. (feces 79.8%, blood 8.7%, feces and blood 7.5%), aiming to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of this population. Bacteremic infections constituted 16.3% (41/252) of patients. Extreme ages (≤12 and ≥65 years old) accounted for 79.7%, but only elder ages were strongly associated with bacteremic infections (aOR 5.78). Invasive infections had a 7-fold higher mortality rate than non-invasive disease (9.8% vs. 1.4%, p = 0.013), with an overall rate of 2.8%. The two more represented serogroups were O:4 (52.8%) and O:9 (22.2%). The O:9 serogroup was strongly associated with a higher frequency of invasive infection (aOR 2.96, 95% CI 1.17-7.63). In particular, S. napoli, an emerging serovar in Europe, accounted for 31.7% of bacteremic infections and only 9.5% of non-bacteremic ones (p < 0.001). Antibiotic microbial resistance (AMR) observed a steep increasing trend and was detected in 60.4% of cases (122/202): amoxicillin/clavulanate, ampicillin, and gentamicin were most commonly involved (26.7%, 21.8%, 14.3%, respectively), while TMP/SMX, ciprofloxacin, and ceftriaxone were <10%. Resistance was, in general, less common in the O:9 serogroup, while amikacin resistance was significantly more common. Factors associated with an MDR Salmonella acquisition were time (OR 1.37 per year more), O:4 serogroup (OR 2.67), and being a woman (OR 2.11). The most frequent symptoms were diarrhea (90.5%) and fever (81.7%). In conclusion, our study highlights a high burden of NTS infections, leading to severe or fatal outcomes in frail patients. Furthermore, AMR shows an increasing trend with a concerning high prevalence of cephalosporine resistance compared to the rest of Europe.

Different biological matrices (serum and plasma) utilization in consolidation processes: evaluation of seven Access immunoassays.

BACKGROUND: The compatibility of immunoassay tests in different sample matrices is extremely important during the assay validation process. In this study, we investigated the interchangeability of some Access (and therefore all the UniCel Family platforms) assays between serum and plasma. METHODS: We tested approximately 200 samples in parallel between serum and lithium heparin plasma for seven analytes: alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA), total prostate specific antigen (tPSA), free prostate specific antigen (fPSA), digoxin, progesterone and unconjugated estriol (uE3). We used the Access2 Immunoassay System (Beckman Coulter), a fully automated random access system with a chemiluminescent signal. We performed statistical comparative analysis using two commercially available programs, Analyze-it from Microsoft Excel and MedCalc Software, and a dedicated statistical program. RESULTS: Firstly, we showed the results of the statistical tests performed on each population to verify their distribution. Analysis by several statistical tests (Passing and Bablok regression, Youden and Bland and Altman diagrams, the Mountain plot and multivariate analysis) showed that all the assays studied were valid in both serum and lithium heparin plasma matrices. CONCLUSIONS: As all Access and UniCel Family instruments use the same reagent packs, these results are transferable to all Beckman Coulter immunochemistry platforms, without a commutability problem between serum and plasma and without a need for establishment of a plasma reference interval.