tiger mosquito control: new approaches to the issue in local context. | until recently, the control of mosquitoes has primarily focused on them as a nuisance due to their biting behaviour. this has now evolved into a significant health problem. to deal with this serious issue, a rational approach to vector control should be adopted, with clear, technically sound guidelines enforceable by legislation. the extensive outbreak of chikungunya in the indian ocean during 2005-6 and the subsequent outbreak in the emilia romagna region of italy in august 2007, should prompt ... | 2008 | 18693576 |
phylogenetic analysis of west nile virus isolated in italy in 2008. | in italy the first occurrence of west nile virus (wnv) infection was reported in tuscany region during the late summer of 1998. in august 2008, the wnv infection re-emerged in italy, in areas surrounding the po river delta, and involving three regions lombardy, emilia romagna and veneto. wnv was isolated from blood and organs samples of one horse, one donkey, one pigeon (columba livia) and three magpies (pica pica). the phylogenetic analysis of the isolates, conducted on 255 bp in the region cod ... | 2008 | 19040827 |
where is west nile fever? lessons learnt from recent human cases in northern italy. | west nile disease in humans has been detected for the first time in italy in two regions, emilia-romagna and veneto. we conclude that also west nile fever cases should be specifically targeted by surveillance. | 2009 | 19317987 |
west nile virus transmission with human cases in italy, august - september 2009. | in 2009, to date 16 human cases of west nile neuroinvasive disease (wnnd) have been reported in italy, in three regions: veneto, emilia-romagna and lombardia. the number of cases is higher compared with last year when nine cases were identified (eight cases of wnnd and one case of west nile fever) and the geographical distribution indicates spread from east to west. | 2009 | 19822123 |
west nile virus transmission in 2008 in north-eastern italy. | after 10 years, west nile virus (wnv) re-emerged in italy in august 2008. as on 31 december 2008, the infection affected eight provinces in three regions (emilia romagna, veneto, lombardy), where a total of 794 cases of wnv infection in 251 equine stables were detected on the basis of the clinical signs and as a result of a serological screening in horses living in the area. only 4.0% (32/794) of the serologically positive animals showed clinical signs, and the 32 clinical cases were reported in ... | 2010 | 20042066 |
arboviral survey of mosquitoes in two northern italian regions in 2007 and 2008. | recently, italy-particularly the emilia-romagna region-was the location of consecutive outbreaks of human diseases caused by the arboviruses chikungunya virus and west nile virus. the two outbreaks, spread by different species of mosquitoes, were not related, but pointed out the lack of an arboviral surveillance program in this region. beginning in 2007 entomological surveillance was initiated in the emilia-romagna region, and in 2008 the program was improved and extended at lombardia region. us ... | 2010 | 20370434 |
west nile virus circulation in emilia-romagna, italy: the integrated surveillance system 2009. | following a large west nile virus (wnv) epidemic in northeastern italy in 2008, human and animal surveillance activities were implemented in emilia romagna. human surveillance was performed by serology or genome detection on blood and cerebrospinal fluid for all suspected cases suffering from acute meningoencephalitis in the regional territory. animal surveillance consisted of passive and active surveillance of horses and active surveillance of wild birds and mosquitoes. between 15 june and 31 o ... | 2010 | 20430000 |
west nile virus circulation in veneto region in 2008-2009. | summarywest nile virus (wnv) was detected in italy, in late summer 2008 in horses and birds in the po valley. as a consequence, an intense wnv surveillance was implemented in that area involving emilia-romagna, veneto and lombardy. this paper presents the results of the september 2008-november 2009 surveillance on equines, mosquitoes, wild birds, dogs and cattle in veneto. wnv was detected in equines and dogs, and, to a lesser extent in cattle and wild birds. simultaneous circulation of usutu vi ... | 2011 | 20670469 |
evidence of simultaneous circulation of west nile and usutu viruses in mosquitoes sampled in emilia-romagna region (italy) in 2009. | in recent years human diseases due to mosquito-borne viruses were increasingly reported in emilia-romagna region (italy), from the chikungunya virus in 2007 to the west nile virus (wnv) in 2008. an extensive entomological survey was performed in 2009 to establish the presence and distribution of mosquito arboviruses in this region, with particular reference to flaviviruses. | 2010 | 21179462 |
west nile virus encephalitis in intensive care: a small mosquito, a tremendous danger. | the authors describe two of three cases of west nile virus (wnv) meningoencephalitis admitted to icu in ferrara (south of po river) underlying the main common features. they focus on the difficulties in diagnosis, with key-points including seasonality (late summer in italy), unspecific flu-like symptoms at the beginning, as hyperpyrexia, myalgia and asthenia, followed by neurological impairment, and use of steroids in the patient clinical history. special attention is deserved to the poor outcom ... | 2011 | 21597448 |
seroprevalence of west nile virus-specific antibodies in a cohort of blood donors in northeastern italy. | igg and igm levels against west nile virus (wnv) were measured in 20,033 serum samples that were obtained between october 2008 to september 2009 from 9913 blood donors in the district of ferrara, northeastern italy. as confirmatory test, a microneutralization assay was used to detect the presence of neutralizing antibodies against wnv. sixty-eight subjects (0.69%) were positive for anti-wnv by immunofluorescence assay. large differences in the prevalence of antibodies to wnv were noted between t ... | 2011 | 21867418 |
Spatio-temporal patterns of distribution of West Nile virus vectors in eastern Piedmont Region, Italy. | ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: West Nile Virus (WNV) transmission in Italy was first reported in 1998 as an equine outbreak near the swamps of Padule di Fucecchio, Tuscany. No other cases were identified during the following decade until 2008, when horse and human outbreaks were reported in Emilia Romagna, North Italy. Since then, WNV outbreaks have occurred annually, spreading from their initial northern foci throughout the country. Following the outbreak in 1998 the Italian public health authority def ... | 2011 | 22152822 |
west nile transmission in resident birds in italy. | migratory birds are considered one of the main sources for west nile virus (wnv) introduction into european countries. following the wnv epidemic in the late summer of 1998 in a marshy area of tuscany (padule of fucecchio), an extensive ornithological surveillance programme was carried out in the infected areas from 2006 to 2008. several species of migratory and resident birds were trapped, sampled and serologically tested. the results of this surveillance programme gave a useful indication of p ... | 2011 | 22212727 |
mosquito, bird and human surveillance of west nile and usutu viruses in emilia-romagna region (italy) in 2010. | in 2008, after the first west nile virus (wnv) detection in the emilia-romagna region, a surveillance system, including mosquito- and bird-based surveillance, was established to evaluate the virus presence. surveillance was improved in following years by extending the monitoring to larger areas and increasing the numbers of mosquitoes and birds tested. | 2012 | 22666446 |
usutu virus persistence and west nile virus inactivity in the emilia-romagna region (italy) in 2011. | the circulation of west nile virus and usutu virus was detected in the emilia-romagna region in 2008 and 2009. to evaluate the extent of circulation of both viruses, environmental surveillance, based on bird and mosquito testing, was conducted in 2008 and gradually improved over the years. | 2013 | 23667694 |
a model of laboratory surveillance for neuro-arbovirosis applied during 2012 in the emilia-romagna region, italy. | arboviruses with neuroinvasive potential are gaining more attention due to the increased number of cases of autochthonous and imported infections in the human host. diagnosis of infection caused by these viruses in patients with central nervous system (cns) diseases is still underestimated and these infections represent an emerging threat to public health. we describe a model suitable for the laboratory surveillance of neuro-arbovirosis that was applied in the emilia-romagna region, north-easter ... | 2014 | 24329773 |
wide recognition of culex pipiens and lack of detection of culex torrentium through biomolecular differentiation of mosquitoes in the emilia-romagna region, northern italy. | the culex pipiens complex includes species with reported differences in vector competence for arthropod-borne viruses, many of which are of significant importance to human health such as the west nile virus and the sindbis virus. this group of mosquitoes is difficult to distinguish morphologically; particularly as adult females. in europe, the two species of the complex, culex pipiens linnaeus 1758 and culex torrentium martini 1925, are often found sympatrically. with the aim to characterize the ... | 2016 | 27477051 |
co-circulation of two usutu virus strains in northern italy between 2009 and 2014. | usutu virus is an arbovirus closely related to west nile virus (genus flavivirus), which circulates between mosquitoes and wild birds. this virus has been increasingly reported in europe, raising concerns for its possible pathogenic potential for wild birds and humans. this study reports the whole genome sequences of 15 strains of usuv, isolated between 2010 and 2014 from mosquitoes and wild birds in the course of west nile virus surveillance in the emilia-romagna and lombardy regions of norther ... | 2017 | 28341546 |
detection of specific antibodies against west nile and usutu viruses in healthy blood donors in northern italy, 2010-2011. | neutralizing antibodies against west nile (wnv) and usutu (usuv) viruses were measured in 6000 samples collected, between 1 september 2010 and 30 june 2011, from blood donors living in different districts of emilia-romagna, northeastern italy. on the basis of the microneutralization assay (mnta), 47 (0.78%) subjects were positive for wnv and 14 (0.23%) for usuv. these results were compared with those obtained 2 years ago and suggest an increased circulation of usuv among humans in emilia-romagna ... | 2013 | 23663225 |
comparative study on the effectiveness of different mosquito traps in arbovirus surveillance with a focus on wnv detection. | the selection of the ideal trap for arbovirus surveillance is an issue of primary importance to increase the sensitivity of virus detection and the cost-effectiveness of the entomological surveillance. during the summer 2011, the effectiveness of five types of mosquito traps (cdc gravid trap, co2(-)baited trap, bg-sentinelâ„¢ and two experimental prototypes) to attract females potentially infected with west nile virus were assessed. the study was carried out in three natural wetland sites located ... | 2016 | 26466982 |
the experience of west nile virus integrated surveillance system in the emilia-romagna region: five years of implementation, italy, 2009 to 2013. | predicting west nile virus (wnv) circulation and the risk of wnv epidemics is difficult due to complex interactions of multiple factors involved. surveillance systems that timely detect virus activity in targeted areas, and allow evidence-based risk assessments may therefore be necessary. since 2009, a system integrating environmental (mosquitoes and birds) and human surveillance has been implemented and progressively improved in the emilia-romagna region, italy. the objective is to increase kno ... | 2014 | 25394257 |
new incursions of west nile virus lineage 2 in italy in 2013: the value of the entomological surveillance as early warning system. | west nile virus (wnv) is one of the most serious public health threats that europe and the mediterranean countries are currently facing. in italy, wnv emerged in 1998 and has been circulating since 2008. to tackle its continuous incursions, italian national and regional institutions set up a surveillance program, which includes the serological screening of sentinel horses, sentinel-chickens and backyard poultry flocks and the surveillance on all equine neurological cases, resident captured and w ... | 2013 | 24002939 |
the yield of temporary exclusion of blood donors, exposed to emerging infections abroad. | emerging infections abroad pose a threat to the safety of blood, donated by travelling blood donors. in this study, the yield of donor deferral after travelling was evaluated, by comparing the estimated numbers of infected donors returning from various affected areas. | 2013 | 22775433 |
[the ideation of the emilia-romagna surveillance system for arbovirosis following the experience from the chikungunya outbreak 2007]. | since 2008 the emilia-romagna regional public health authority activated a regional plan for arbovirosis surveillance and control, focused on chikungunya, dengue and west nile. the plan integrates sanitary, entomological and veterinary surveillance allowing a prompt adoption of efficient measures, aiming at the prevention and reduction of arbovirosis transmission risk. following the 2007 chikungunya outbreak, no autochthonous chikungunya or dengue cases has been registered, while an increase of ... | 2015 | 25759358 |