Knowledge and behaviours associated with HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections in blood donors in Italy.

INTRODUCTION: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) represent a group of widespread infectious diseases. The objective of this study is to investigate the knowledge on HIV and STIs as well as sexual risk behaviours among blood donors in Italy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out in 2017 among blood donors who accessed social media of the Italian Association of Blood Donors (Associazione Volontari Italiani del Sangue, AVIS), and answered to a questionnaire posted online. RESULTS: Participating blood donors were 9,021, median age 36 years (IQR 26-47), 53.9% males, 94.3% heterosexual, and 2.7% reported having a current occasional partner. Unprotected sex in the last 4 months was reported by 54.1% of participants. About half of the participants were not informed of most STIs, 11.0% reported never having searched for information on HIV and STIs, one third considered unlikely acquiring HIV through unprotected sex with a known person, 21.3% would stop having sex with a partner found to be HIV-positive, and 15.8% would be afraid to hug or kiss a person with HIV. DISCUSSION: Our results show that most blood donors have a stable partner and search actively for information on HIV and STIs. However, there is a proportion of them who engage in high-risk behaviours, have misconceptions on HIV and STIs transmission, reporting a stigmatising attitude towards people with HIV. CONCLUSION: A more comprehensive and updated information on various STIs, transmission modes and safe sex should be provided to blood donors, not only to prevent the spread of these infections but also to avoid unjustified discrimination.

Antibiotic treatment to prevent postextraction complications: a monocentric, randomized clinical trial. Preliminary outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Tooth extraction is a very common procedure in oral surgery. Despite this, very little information is available in the literature as to the antibiotic management of the patient. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the antibiotic prophylaxis could be beneficial in preventing postextraction local complications and whether the use of a probiotic could help reduce the antibiotic gastro-intestinal side effects. METHODS: One hundred eleven patients meeting the inclusion criteria were initially included in this randomized clinical trial and randomly allocated to one of the three experimental groups according to a computer-generated randomization list. Patients allocated to the group 1 were given amoxicillin+clavulanic acid (2 g/day for 6 days), patients allocated to the group 2 received antibiotic + probiotic (Bifidobacterium longum+lactoferrin) and patients allocated to the group 3 received no antibiotic therapy after the extraction. To evaluate post-extractive complications, controls were performed at days 7, 14 and 21 after the extraction. RESULTS: At T1 pain at the surgical site was present in the 48%, 30% and 71.4% of the patients belonging respectively to the antibiotic alone group, to the antibiotic+probiotic group and to the control group. The mean Numeric Rating Score (NRS) score was 1.56±1.91, 1.08±1.93, 2.02±2.27 respectively (P=0.0498). Two patients belonging to the control group experienced dry socket. In addition, 9 patients (33.3%) in the antibiotic-alone group and 1 patient (2.7%) in the antibiotic+probiotic group reported intestinal distension (P=0.0012), 7 days after surgery. Finally, diarrhea was recorded in 5 patients of the antibiotic alone group (18.5%), on the other hand, no patients of the antibiotic+probiotic group and the control group reported diarrhea. CONCLUSIONS: Postextractive complications observed in each group have been mild and fast to resolve. The antibiotic administration showed a decrease in pain suffered by patients but a higher incidence of gastrointestinal side effects, such as abdominal distension and diarrhea, which seemed to be relieved by the concomitant use of the probiotic.