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This article discusses the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on beer production and consumption in Europe, with a focus on Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy. The pandemic restrictions have resulted in a contraction in the production and consumption of beer in Europe in 2020 and 2021. However, Italy has seen a recovery in the beer sector due to a surge in demand in the HoReCa channel. In terms of off-trade outlets, such as supermarkets and retail sales, there has been a continued growth trend seen in previous years, with an increasing preference for low-alcohol or alcohol-free beers. Friuli Venezia Giulia has experienced a rise in the number of beer consumers by 3.1% in 2021, with every 100 people witnessing a rise of 1.5% compared to the previous year, making it the region with the highest percentage of beer consumers in Italy. The region has seen continuous growth in craft brewing companies, with 55 as of 31 March 2022. Microbreweries are the predominant business type, and e-commerce is a service offered by 36% of the craft companies. The environmental impact resulting from the activities of the companies studied varies, and there is significant room for improvement in the future. Overall, the craft brewing industry in Friuli Venezia Giulia shows continued growth and development, contributing to the economic development of rural areas.
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Introduction: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and its satellite virus hepatitis D (HDV) are common worldwide hepatotrophic infections responsible for cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. EASL practice guidelines recommend HDV screening in all Hep B patients. Novel therapies for Hep D are promising. Aim: To determine screening rates for HDV in HBV patients referred to our Laboratory of Hub Hospital Pordenone (Friuli Venezia Giulia). Methods: We retrospectively considered HBsAg positive results from 01.01.2018 to 31.12.2021. Using an extended database to 30.11.2022, we considered, among those were HBsAg positive, anti-HDV results and if we detected positivity for anti-HDV, we checked if HDV-RNA was performed. Results: 931 patients (55% non-Italian native) positive for hepatitis B surface antigen were studied with a majority male patients (65%). Of 931, 470 (50%) Hep B patients were screened for Hep D and 13 (1.4%) (9 non-Italian native) were positive for anti-HDV. Of 13, 6 were positive for serum HDV-RNA;3 subjects were negative for HDV-RNA while 4 patients did not perform HDV-RNA. 10 Hep-B patients (1%) negative for anti-HDV at first time were re-tested for anti-HDV more than once. Comparing 2018-2019 vs 2020-2021, screening rate for Hep D decreased from 56% to 40%. Conclusions: Despite current HDV guidelines, in our Hospital HDV screening is suboptimal and it is actually declining. In fact COVID-19 has caused the slowing down of hepatitis testing program. Therefore we suggest: 1) anti-HDV simplified and automated reflex testing algorithms in Hep B patients for an early diagnosis and linkage to care of HDV infection;2) enhancement of molecular biology for HDV-RNA assay in our Italian Labs;3) repeating more than once anti-HDV especially in high-risk HBV patients. Furthermore, we need to be careful for Hep B vaccine to reduce Hep D screening and disease burden.
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Introduction: The study aimed to determine the relationship between COVID-19 incidence and contact tracing quality in Friuli Venezia Giulia Local Health Authorities (LHAs) AS1, AS2, AS3. Materials and methods: Omicron regional prevalence divided the study period (21/09/2020-24/04/2022) into pre Omicron (21/09/2020- 26/12/2021) and Omicron (27/12/2021-24/04/2022). For each sub-period, regional and LHA-specific descriptive statistics on incidence and percentages of cases with unidentified chains of transmissions, household outbreaks and Contact Tracing (CT) quality index (complement of cases with unidentified chains of transmissions/managed cases multiplied by the complement of household outbreaks/active outbreaks, in percentage) were calculated. To investigate the relationship between CT quality index and incidence and between percentage of cases with unidentified chains of transmissions and incidence, regression analysis was performed.
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Background: In contrast to adults, children are less likely to develop serious disease upon infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) but are at increased risk for infammatory and autoimmune diseases linked to the virus (1). The reported incidence of multisystem infammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) varied from 0.2 to 11.4/100,000 persons under 21 years (2,3). It is yet unknown whether MIS-C can recur after SARS-CoV-2 reinfection or COVID-19 vaccination. Objectives: To estimate the incidence and describe the spectrum of infam-matory and autoimmune diseases linked to SARS-CoV-2 infection and coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination in pediatric patients from two neighbouring South Central European countries and regions, Slovenia and Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG), Italy. Methods: We performed a multi-centre prospective cohort study of all children and adolescents (under 18 years) newly diagnosed with MIS-C or other inflammatory/autoimmune diseases linked to SARS-CoV-2 infection, who were admitted to the pediatric tertiary care hospitals in Slovenia or FVG, Italy during the period from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2021. These hospitals serve a combined population of 587,053 children and adolescents. Only patients who had positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and/or positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test within 3 months prior to disease onset were considered for estimating the disease incidence. We obtained the number of patients with serious adverse events (SAE) after COVID-19 vaccination and the number of patients with severe COVID-19 in the same population. This study was conducted as a part of the EU interregional Italy-Slovenia project CATTEDRA (Cross border cooperation for innovative diagnosis of rare diseases in paediatrics). Results: 192 children and adolescents were diagnosed with infammatory and autoimmune diseases linked to SARS-CoV-2 (Figure 1). Median age at diagnosis was 11. 9 years (IQR 7. 6-14.7). All included patients were White. Incidence of MIS-C was one in 921 children and adolescents after SARS-CoV-2 infection and one in 5870 of all children and adolescents. Cumulative incidence of MIS-C since the start of the pandemic was 17/100,000 children and adolescents. Until December 31, 2021, 92,139 children and adolescents (15.7 %) received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Three patients presented with infammatory/autoimmune disease after COVID-19 vaccination, including 2 patients with MIS-C and one patient with myositis. All 3 had evidence of recent SARS-CoV-2 infection in form of positive anti-N SARS-CoV-2 antibodies. In the same period, 15 children and adolescents were hospitalised with severe COVID-19. Seven patients from our cohort were vaccinated against COVID-19 median 8 months after MIS-C and further 6 patients had a SARS-CoV-2 reinfection 3-14 months after MIS-C. None of them experienced SAE or recurrence of MIS-C. COVID-19=coronavirus disease, FVG=Friuli Venezia Giulia region in Italy, MIS-C=multisystem infammatory syndrome in children, SARS-CoV-2=severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Conclusion: MIS-C was the most common manifestation and its incidence in this predominantly white population was higher than previously reported. Based on our limited experience, MIS-C does not seem to recur after SARS-CoV-2 reinfection or COVID-19 vaccination, however long-term data are lacking. Autoimmune diseases were much more common after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after COVID-19 vaccination. Hospitalisations due to MIS-C were seven times as frequent as hospitalisations due to severe COVID-19 in children.
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Background: A novel viral infection known as COVID-19 (Coronavirus-19 disease) spread up in Wuhan (China) in December 2019, but rapidly diffused worldwide and nowadays it remains an international health problem. Because of its impact on immunologic system, immunomodulating therapies have been studied as possible treatments for severe cases of COVID-19. In that context, patients affected by from rheumatic musculoskeletal disorders (RMD) under disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) have been observed in several studies to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on these subjects, well known to be at higher risk of infection. Objectives: The primary objective of this study is to assess prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in patients with RMD under treatment with biologic (b-DMARDs) or targeted synthetic (ts-DMARDs) DMARDs, before the vaccination campaign. The second aim is to compare those data with that in general population of the same Area (Province of Udine, Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, Italy,). Methods: A cohort of RMD patients treated with b-DMARDs or ts-DMARDs was observed from September 2019 to November 2020. Both pandemic waves have been considered, until the start of vaccination (since current variants can overcome vaccine protection), between February 2020 and April 2020 (first wave) and between September 2020 and November 2020 (second one). Results: Among 1051 RMD patients treated with b-or ts-DMARDs COVID-19 prevalence was 3.5% (37 cases) without significant differences compared to general population of the same Region (Table 1). Infected patients were 18 men and 19 women, with a median age of 60 years (IQR 49-68). Notably, the infection rate of RMD patients was significantly lower compared to the general population of the same province, particularly during the second wave (p<0.001, Table 1). Almost all patients reported fever (70%). Gastro-intestinal symptoms (nausea, vomit and diarrhoea) have been recorded in 10 subjects (27%) and resulted significantly associated with longer swab pos-itivity (p<0.05) (Figure 1). Only a small percentage of patients with COVID-19 infection was receiving corticosteroids (8%), and the doses were low (3.5 or 5 mg per day of prednisone equivalents). The most used b-DMARDs were anti-TNFs (24/37, 65%), while just 4/37 (11%) employed JAK inhibitors. A small percentage of patients (6/37, 16%) continued ongoing treatment, with no worsened outcomes, while none preventively suspended the immuno-suppressant. The course of infection was generally benign with a mortality rate of 2.6% (1 patient, with several risk factors) and only 9 patients needed to be hospitalized (24%). After COVID-19 infection, 12 subjects (32%) had RMD flare and 5 of them subsequently needed to change the immunosup-pressive drug. Conclusion: The prevalence of COVID-19 in RMD patients has been confrmed low in both waves and it could be partially explained by the great awareness about preventive strategies by the patients. The benign course of COVID-19 in our patients may be linked to the very low amount of chronic corticosteroids used and the possible protective effect of anti-TNF agents, which were the main class of biologics herein employed. Gastro-intestinal symptoms might be a predictor of viral persistence in immunosuppressed patients. This fnding could be useful to identify earlier COVID-19 carriers with uncommon symptoms (without respiratory manifestations), eventually eligible for antiviral drugs.
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OBJECTIVES: to study the cumulative incidence, the demographics and health conditions of the population tested for COVID-19, and to map the evolving distribution of individual cases in the population of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (North-Eastern Italy). DESIGN: population-based observational study based on a record linkage procedure of databases included in the electronic health information system of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: the study group consisted of individuals who resided in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and who underwent COVID-19 testing from 01.03 to 24.04.2020. The study group was identified from the laboratory database, which contains all the microbiological testing performed in regional facilities. Tested people were categorized into positive or negative cases, based on test results. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: probability of being tested for and cumulative incidence of COVID-19. RESULTS: the cumulative probability of being tested for COVID-19 was 278/10,000 inhabitants, while the cumulative incidence was 22 cases/10,000. Out of 33,853 tested people, 2,744 (8.1%) turned out to be positive for COVID-19. Women were tested more often than men (337 vs 216/10,000), and they showed a higher incidence of infection than men (25 and 19 infected cases/10,000 residents, respectively). Both cumulative incidence and cumulative probability of being tested were higher in the elderly population. About 25% of infected people was hosted in retirement homes and 9% was represented by healthcare workers. Thirty seven percent of positive cases had hypertension, 15% cardiologic diseases, while diabetes and cancer characterized 11.7% and 10% of the infected population, respectively. The geographic distribution of positive cases showed a faster spread of the infection in the city of Trieste, an urban area with the highest regional population density. CONCLUSIONS: the COVID-19 pandemic did not hit the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region as hard as other Northern Italian Regions. In the early phase, as documented in this study, the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affected women and elderly people, especially those living in retirement homes in Trieste.