Cerebral Toxocariasis as a Cause of Epilepsy: A Pediatric Case.

Toxocarosis is the consequence of human infection by Toxocara spp. larvae and is one of the most common ascarioses, not only in developing countries, but also in the European region, where its prevalence reaches 14%. Due to their particular behavior, children are at higher risk of this parasitic infection, whose clinical features depend on the localization of the Toxocara larvae. Neurotoxocariasis is very uncommon in children and may take different forms depending on the underlying physiopathologic process: immune reaction against the parasite antigens, vasculitis, treatment complications, or, very rarely, brain localization of Toxocara spp. larvae. The association between neurotoxocariasis and the onset of childhood epilepsy has been postulated but is still debated. Moreover, a Toxocara spp. abscess causing epileptic seizures in children has been rarely described, especially in western countries. Hereby we present a 9-year-old patient with a new diagnosis of epilepsy definitely secondary to brain abscess due to the localization of Toxocara canis larvae. Diagnosis was confirmed by neuroimaging and serological test. The successful treatment with albendazole and steroids was documented with a close and long-term clinical and neuroradiological follow-up. Our experience confirms that every case of cryptogenetic epilepsy in children deserves a neuroimaging study and, in case of cystic images, Toxocara serology is mandatory to avoid further unnecessary invasive diagnostic investigations and to set the specific drug therapy.

Prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 specific neutralising antibodies in blood donors from the Lodi Red Zone in Lombardy, Italy, as at 06 April 2020.

We evaluated SARS-CoV-2 RNA and neutralising antibodies in blood donors (BD) residing in the Lodi Red Zone, Italy. Of 390 BDs recruited after 20 February 2020 - when the first COVID-19 case in Lombardy was identified, 91 (23%) aged 19-70 years were antibody positive. Viral RNA was detected in an additional 17 (4.3%) BDs, yielding ca 28% (108/390) with evidence of virus exposure. Five stored samples collected as early as 12 February were seropositive.

Rotavirus molecular epidemiology in hospitalized patients, Northern Italy, 2015-2018.

About 15,000 hospitalizations due to group A Rotavirus gastroenteritis (RVA) are recorded each year in Italy. In the present study, we report the seasonal distribution and molecular characterization of RVA in pediatric and adult hospitalized patients in the period September 2015-April 2018 in Pavia province, Lombardy Region. During the study period, stool samples of 1450 patients with acute gastroenteritis were analyzed and 122 were RVA positive, the majority belonging to pediatric patients (94.0%) while only a minority of patients (6.0%) were adults. G3P[8], G1P[8], G9P[8] and G2P[4] were the most detected RVA strains, with a prevalence of 82.4%. However, a variety of RVA strains circulated in Northern Italy in hospitalized patients over a period of three years, emphasizing distinct patterns of distribution in different age groups and between years.