Blastocystis hominis transmission by non-potable water: a case report in Italy.

In the reported case, a 41-year-old Italian man came to the clinician's observation reporting cramps, bloating and watery diarrhoea a few days after drinking water indicated as unpotable from a fountain in a farm area. The medical suspicion was directed at both gluten intolerance and enteric infection, eventually of waterborne origin. Gluten intolerance was investigated by intestinal biopsy and excluded, while stool analyses ruled out infective bacteriological or viral agents and parasites. Subsequently, a persistent eosinophilia was revealed and a parasitological analysis was again suggested, planning for a more sensitive molecular method. Therefore, a multiplex-PCR of enteric protozoa species DNA was performed on an intestinal biopsy and faecal samples revealing only Blastocystis hominis protozoa, subsequently typed as subtype 1 by RFLP-PCR method. B. hominis is an anaerobic protozoa found in the human and animal intestinal tract, recently associated with a pathogenic role characterized by chronic development. Since blastocystosis has been demonstrated as a waterborne infection, a sample of water matrix was analysed, revealing the B. hominis subtype 1 DNA inside. A probable water transmission of Blastocystis infection has been demonstrated in this case report. Only a probiotic treatment based on Saccharomyces boulardii was administered to the patient and this apparently resolved the infection. In summary, the case described here is a chronic blastocystosis of possible waterborne origin, controlled by assuming a yeast treatment.

[Risk to human health associated with marine toxic algae]. / Il rischio sanitario associato alle tossine di alghe marine.

Among the about 5000 of marine algal species, some 75 produce algal toxins. These latter mainly belong to the taxa first of dynoflagellates and then diatomes. The so far known human intoxications have been associated with mollusc consumption. The main poisoning syndromes have been termed, on the basis of the observed symptoms, as paralytic, diarrhetic, neurotoxic and amnesic and shorthened as: PSP (paralytic shellfish poisoning), DSP (diarrhetic shellfish poisoning), NSP (neurotoxic shellfish poisoning), ASP (amnesic shellfish poisoning), respectively. This paper is a review of the problem of human health implications associated with marine toxic algae, with particular reference to the situation of the Mediterranean and the Italian coastal areas.

[Accidents in recreational waters]. / Incidenti nelle aree di balneazione.

Several countries fail to systematically collect statistical data on accidents in bathing waters of recreational areas. Yet, drowning, near-drowning, head trauma and spinal chord injuries are important causes of mortality and morbidity throughout the world. In Italy, the available statistical data are circumscribed to drowning, and show that between 1969 and 1997 the mortality dropped from some 1,200 to some 500 cases/year, and its rate from 21 to 7.5 deaths per million resident/year. The mortality for drowning is much higher in males than in females, but in the period examined it halved in both the sexes. From 1969 to 1997, the mortality rates considerably decreased in all the age subgroups, but particularly in that of young people. The analysis of these data indicates that some general factors have played an important role, like a better education and information, a greater surveillance by adults and a better organisation of summer resorts. A national strategy aimed at preventing recreational accidents would provide much better results than those obtained without any planning.