Case report: vertical transmission of Plesiomonas shigelloides. Is it time to strengthen information on safety concerns for raw seafood dietary exposure in pregnancy?

The consumption of raw seafood, generally considered to be a healthy food, has greatly increased worldwide. Pathogens of fish can cause foodborne illnesses in humans, especially following the consumption of raw seafood from contaminated water.Foodborne illness in pregnant women is seldom the cause of neonatal infection, but, as in the reported cases, it has been associated with a high degree of morbidity and mortality.We present the case of a newborn with septicemia and meningitis caused by Plesiomonas shigelloides acquired via the transplacental route. There was a maternal history of ingestion of raw seafood 1 week prior to delivery. A few similar cases are described in the existing literature, which reports 7 neonatal deaths.Therefore, the primary objective of this paper is to highlight the fact that the popularity of raw seafood such as sushi, sashimi, and oysters, requires an improvement in dietary advice regarding unsafe choices in pregnancy in order to avoid preventable foodborne diseases, sometimes fatal for the newborn.

Safety and Efficacy of Outpatient Treatments for COVID-19: Real-Life Data from a Regionwide Cohort of High-Risk Patients in Tuscany, Italy (the FEDERATE Cohort).

Early COVID-19 treatments can prevent progression to severe disease. However, real-life data are still limited, and studies are warranted to monitor the efficacy and tolerability of these drugs. We retrospectively enrolled outpatients receiving early treatment for COVID-19 in 11 infectious diseases units in the Tuscany region of Italy between 1 January and 31 March 2022, when Omicron sublineages BA.1 and BA.2 were circulating. Eligible COVID-19 patients were treated with sotrovimab (SOT), remdesivir (RMD), nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (NRM/r), or molnupiravir (MOL). We gathered demographic and clinical features, 28-day outcomes (hospitalization or death), and drugs tolerability. A total of 781 patients (median age 69.9, 66% boosted for SARS-CoV-2) met the inclusion criteria, of whom 314 were treated with SOT (40.2%), 205 with MOL (26.3%), 142 with RMD (18.2%), and 120 with NRM/r (15.4%). Overall, 28-day hospitalization and death occurred in 18/781 (2.3%) and 3/781 (0.3%), respectively. Multivariable Cox regression showed that patients receiving SOT had a reduced risk of meeting the composite outcome (28-day hospitalization and/or death) in comparison to the RMD cohort, while no significant differences were evidenced for the MOL and NRM/r groups in comparison to the RMD group. Other predictors of negative outcomes included cancer, chronic kidney disease, and a time between symptoms onset and treatment administration > 3 days. All treatments showed good safety and tolerability, with only eight patients (1%) whose treatment was interrupted due to intolerance. In the first Italian multicenter study presenting real-life data on COVID-19 early treatments, all regimens demonstrated good safety and efficacy. SOT showed a reduced risk of progression versus RMD. No significant differences of outcome were observed in preventing 28-day hospitalization and death among patients treated with RMD, MOL, and NRM/r.

Predictors of poor outcome in tocilizumab treated patients with Sars-CoV-2 related severe respiratory failure: A multicentre real world study.

INTRODUCTION: Despite Tocilizumab is now recognized as a concrete therapeutic option in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 related respiratory failure, literature lacks about factors influencing the response to it in this context. Therefore, the aim of our study was to provide evidence about predictors of poor outcome in Tocilizumab treated patients in the real-world practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed clinical, laboratory and chest computer tomography (CCT) data of patients firstly admitted in non Intensive Care Units (ICU) and suffering from severe respiratory failure, who were treated with the IL-6 antagonist Tocilizumab. We compared patients who died and/or required admission to ICU with oro-tracheal intubation (OTI) with those who did not. RESULTS: Two hundreds and eighty-seven patients (29.9% females) with mean age ± SD 64.1 ± 12.6 years were the study population. In-hospital mortality was 18.8%, while the composite endpoint in-hospital mortality and/or ICU admission with OTI occurred in 23.7%. At univariate analysis, patients who died and/or were admitted to ICU with OTI were significantly older and co-morbid, had significantly higher values of creatinine, C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin and lower lymphocytes count, PaO2/FiO2 ratio (P/F) and room air pulsossimetry oxygen saturation (RAO2S) at hospital admission. Computed tomography ground glass opacities (CT-GGO) involving the pulmonary surface ≥ 50% were found in 55.4% of patients who died and/or were admitted to ICU with OTI and in 21.5% of patients who did not (p=0.0001). At multivariate analysis, age ≥ 65 years (OR 17.3, 95% CI: 3.7-81.0), procalcitonin ≥ 0.14 (OR 9.9, 95%CI: 1.7-56.1), RAO2S ≤ 90% (OR 4.6, 95%CI: 1.2-17.0) and CCT-GGO involvement ≥ 50% (OR 5.1, 95%CI: 1.2-21.0) were independent risk factors associated with death and/or ICU admission with OTI. CONCLUSION: Tocilizumab has shown to improve outcome in patients with severe respiratory failure associated to SARS-CoV-2 related pneumonia. In our multicentre study focusing on Tocilizumab treated severe COVID-19 patients, age ≥ 65 years, procalcitonin ≥ 0.14 ng/mL, RAO2S ≤ 90% and CCT-GGO involvement ≥ 50% were independent factors associated with poor outcome.

The incremental value of computed tomography of COVID-19 pneumonia in predicting ICU admission.

Triage is crucial for patient's management and estimation of the required intensive care unit (ICU) beds is fundamental for health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic. We assessed whether chest computed tomography (CT) of COVID-19 pneumonia has an incremental role in predicting patient's admission to ICU. We performed volumetric and texture analysis of the areas of the affected lung in CT of 115 outpatients with COVID-19 infection presenting to the emergency room with dyspnea and unresponsive hypoxyemia. Admission blood laboratory including lymphocyte count, serum lactate dehydrogenase, D-dimer and C-reactive protein and the ratio between the arterial partial pressure of oxygen and inspired oxygen were collected. By calculating the areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUC), we compared the performance of blood laboratory-arterial gas analyses features alone and combined with the CT features in two hybrid models (Hybrid radiological and Hybrid radiomics)for predicting ICU admission. Following a machine learning approach, 63 patients were allocated to the training and 52 to the validation set. Twenty-nine (25%) of patients were admitted to ICU. The Hybrid radiological model comprising the lung %consolidation performed significantly (p = 0.04) better in predicting ICU admission in the validation (AUC = 0.82; 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.97) set than the blood laboratory-arterial gas analyses features alone (AUC = 0.71; 95% confidence interval 0.56-0.86). A risk calculator for ICU admission was derived and is available at: https://github.com/cgplab/covidapp . The volume of the consolidated lung in CT of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia has a mild but significant incremental value in predicting ICU admission.

Passive immunity in newborn from SARS-CoV-2-infected mother.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) vertical transmission is an open issue. Recent reports call into question in utero or peripartum viral transmission to the offspring. Few data are available on immunoglobulin G (IgG) and/or IgM in newborns. Insufficient evidence is available regarding passive immunity in neonates born from SARS-CoV-2 infected women. We report a case of a neonate showing the presence of blood specific IgG and the absence of IgM and negative nasopharyngeal swab. He was born from an asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2-infected mother with positive IgG and IgM. The transplacental passage of specific IgG antibodies from the affected mother to the unaffected fetus highlights neonatal passive immunity.

No Confirmed Cases of Taenia solium Taeniasis in a Group of Recently Arrived Sub-Saharan Migrants to Italy.

One-hundred and sixty-four migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa to Italy were screened with the Taenia solium specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay coproantigen (ELISA CoAg) and four (2.4%) were recorded as positive, but with optical density values near to the cut-off. No ELISA CoAg positive samples were confirmed by parasitological methods. Low positivity could be attributed to false positive result or cross-reaction with other Taenia species. Further studies are needed to assess the role of migration on sporadic autochthonous transmission of T. solium taeniasis/cysticercosis in Europe.

Epidemiological, demographic and clinical data on chronic viral hepatitis C in Tuscany.

BACKGROUND: Recent introduction of direct antiviral agents (DAAs) has completely changed the scenario regarding hepatitis C virus (HCV) treatment. Certain countries' economic health programs prioritize DAAs according to specific clinical features of HCV-infected patients. The aim of this study was to define epidemiological, demographic and clinical characteristics of HCV-infected patients in the Tuscany region of central Italy. METHODS: We enrolled HCV patients with chronic viral hepatitis who were referred to the outpatient services of 16 hospitals in Tuscany from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015. Case report forms contained patient information including main demographic data, blood chemistry data, viral hepatitis markers, instrumental evaluations (liver biopsy or transient elastometry, liver ultrasound), eligibility for DAAs, and liver transplantation or therapy already in progress. RESULTS: Of all patients considered, 2919 HCV patients were enrolled (mean age: 57.44 ± 15.15; 54% males, 46% females). All routes of transmission were well represented (intravenous drug use in 20.7%; nosocomial/dental care in 20.6%; and coagulation factors/blood transfusions in 13.3%). Diabetes was the highest represented comorbidity (20.8%), followed by metabolic syndrome (15.5%) and ischemic heart disease (6.2%). The most prevalent HCV genotypes were 1b (47.4%) and 2 (16.5%). In the whole cohort of patients, 32.8% were cirrhotic (40 patients were listed for liver transplantation). Signs of portal hypertension were present mostly in the group older than 45 years (92.3%). Extrahepatic HCV-related diseases were present in 13.3% of cases (cryoglobulinemic syndrome in 58.3% and B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 10.5%). CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence of a high prevalence of epidemiological changes in HCV infection with a major prevalence of advanced liver disease, such as portal hypertension, in this elderly cohort of patients.

Clinical epidemiology of chronic viral hepatitis B: A Tuscany real-word large-scale cohort study.

AIM: To build a regional database of chronic patients to define the clinical epidemiology of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients in the Tuscan public health care system. METHODS: This study used a cross-sectional cohort design. We evaluated chronic viral hepatitis patients with HBV referred to the outpatient services of 16 hospital units. Information in the case report forms included main demographic data, blood chemistry data, viral hepatitis markers, instrumental evaluations, and eligibility for treatment or ongoing therapy and liver transplantation. RESULTS: Of 4015 chronic viral hepatitis patients, 1096 (27.3%) were HBV infected. The case report form was correctly completed for only 833 patients (64% males, 36% females; mean age 50.1 ± 15.4). Of these HBV-infected patients, 73% were Caucasian, 21% Asian, 4% Central African, 1% North African and 1% American. Stratifying patients by age and nationality, we found that 21.7% of HBV-infected patients were aged < 34 years (only 2.8% were Italian). The most represented routes of transmission were nosocomial/dental procedures (23%), mother-to-child (17%) and sexual transmission (12%). The most represented HBV genotypes were D (72%) and A (14%). Of the patients, 24.7% of patients were HBeAg positive, and 75.3% were HBeAg negative. Of the HBV patients 7% were anti-HDV positive. In the whole cohort, 26.9% were cirrhotic (35.8% aged < 45 years), and 47% were eligible for or currently undergoing treatment, of whom 41.9 % were cirrhotic. CONCLUSION: Only 27.3% of chronic viral hepatitis patients were HBV infected. Our results provide evidence of HBV infection in people aged < 34 years, especially in the foreign population not protected by vaccination. In our cohort of patients, liver cirrhosis was also found in young adults.

Pneumococcal serotype distribution in adults with invasive disease and in carrier children in Italy: Should we expect herd protection of adults through infants' vaccination?

The 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV7) produced a significant herd protection in unvaccinated adult population mostly because of pneumococcus carriage decrease in vaccinated children. It is not known if the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine can give similar effect on adults. Aims of the work were to evaluate whether the 6 additional serotypes are present in nasopharynx of children and serotype distribution in invasive pneumococcal infections (IPD) in adults. Realtime-PCR was used to evaluate pneumococcal serotypes in adults with confirmed IPD and in nasopharyngeal swabs (NP) from 629 children not vaccinated or vaccinated with PCV7 and resident in the same geographical areas. Two hundred twenty-one patients (116 males, median 67.9 years) with IPD were studied (pneumonia n = 103, meningitis n = 61 sepsis n = 50, other n = 7). Two hundred twelve were serotyped. The most frequent serotypes were 3, (31/212; 14.6%), 19A, (19/212; 9.0%), 12 (17/212; 8.0%), 7F, (14/212; 6.6%). In NP of children, the frequency of those serotypes causing over 50% of IPD in adults was very low, ranging from 0.48% for serotype 7F to 7.9% for serotype 19A. On the other side serotype 5, very frequent in NP (18.7%) caused <1% IPD. In conclusion serotypes causing IPD in adults are very rarely found in children NP. We suggest that herd protection obtainable with the additional 6 serotypes included in PCV13 may be more limited than that demonstrated with PCV7 in the past. In order to reduce the burden of disease in adults, adults should be offered a specific vaccination program with highly immunogenic PCV.

Imported dengue fever in Tuscany, Italy, in the period 2006 to 2012.

This report focuses on epidemiological and clinical features of dengue fever (DF) in Tuscany (Italy) between 2006 and 2012. Sixty-one DF cases were diagnosed, 32 of which were in the period of Aedes albopictus activity. Some clinical (arthralgia/myalgia, nausea/vomiting, and skin rash), laboratory (leukopenia and thrombocytopenia), and epidemiological characteristics (travel in a continent other than Africa) significantly distinguished DF cases from other febrile illnesses. Our data stress the importance of increasing awareness on dengue in Italy among clinicians in order to reach an early diagnosis in returning travelers and to implement appropriate clinical and public health interventions.

Malaria clusters among illegal Chinese immigrants to Europe through Africa.

Between November 2002 and March 2003, 17 cases of malaria (1 fatal) were observed in illegal Chinese immigrants who traveled to Italy through Africa. A further cluster of 12 was reported in August, 2002. Several immigrants traveled by air, making the risk of introducing sudden acute respiratory syndrome a possibility should such illegal immigrations continue.

Malaria Clusters among Illegal Chinese Immigrants to Europe through Africa

Between November 2002 and March 2003; 17 cases of malaria (1 fatal) were observed in illegal Chinese immigrants who traveled to Italy through Africa. A further cluster of 12 was reported in August; 2002. Several immigrants traveled by air; making the risk of introducing sudden acute respiratory syndrome a possibility should such illegal immigrations continue