Reactive vaccination as control strategy for an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis C:P1.5-1,10-8:F3-6:ST-11(cc11), Bergamo province, Italy, December 2019 to January 2020.

In Italy, serogroup C meningococci of the clonal complex cc11 (MenC/cc11) have caused several outbreaks of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) during the past 20 years. Between December 2019 and January 2020, an outbreak of six cases of IMD infected with MenC/cc11 was identified in a limited area in the northern part of Italy. All cases presented a severe clinical picture, and two of them were fatal. This report is focused on the microbiological and molecular analysis of meningococcal isolates with the aim to reconstruct the chain of transmission. It further presents the vaccination strategy adopted to control the outbreak. The phylogenetic evaluation demonstrated the close genetic proximity between the strain involved in this outbreak and a strain responsible for a larger epidemic that had occurred in 2015 and 2016 in the Tuscany Region. The rapid identification and characterisation of IMD cases and an extensive vaccination campaign contributed to the successful control of this outbreak caused by a hyperinvasive meningococcal strain.

Congenital Chagas disease in a non-endemic area: Results from a control programme in Bergamo province, Northern Italy.

INTRODUCTION: In non-endemic countries, one of the most important routes of transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi is vertical transmission. The objective of this work is to report the results of the screening activities for the control of congenital Chagas Disease (CD) implemented in Bergamo province between January 2014 and December 2016. METHODS: The programme addressed Bolivian pregnant women settled in Bergamo province. All the eight hospitals offering antenatal and delivery care in that area were involved. We retrospectively calculated the coverage rate of the screening programme, the prevalence of CD in this population, as well as transmission rate to their offspring. RESULTS: During the study period, 376 Bolivian women accounted for 387 deliveries. The coverage rate of serologic screening was 85.6%. Confirmed seropositive women were 28, accounting for a prevalence of CD of 8.7% (95% IC 5.9-11.5). Among 29 children born to positive mothers, one infected child was detected (transmission rate of 4.3%, 95% IC 0-12.6) and treated accordingly. Other 13 children previously born from the same mothers were retrieved and tested for CD: no additional congenital cases were diagnosed. DISCUSSION: Our screening programme presented a high coverage, although widely variable in the different birthing facilities. National guidelines recommending CD testing in pregnant women would help to increase case detection countrywide.