ABSTRACT
Tuberculosis screening is recommended for all health care workers. We evaluated the prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection among 939 hospital workers of Tor Vergata University teaching hospital in Rome, Italy, in the period 2007-2013, by using the QuantiFERON Gold In-Tube (QFT) test. The mean age of subjects tested was 31 years. The prevalence of positive subjects (cut-off 0.35 UI/ml) was 5.5% (46/939) and the mean age of those who tested positive was 39 years. The low rate of positivity may be partly related to the higher reliability of QFT in comparison to tuberculin skin testing.
Subject(s)
Health Personnel , Interferon-gamma Release Tests , Mass Screening , Mycobacterium tuberculosis , Population Surveillance , Tuberculin Test , Tuberculosis/diagnosis , Adult , Female , Health Personnel/statistics & numerical data , Hospitals, University , Humans , Interferon-gamma Release Tests/methods , Italy , Latent Tuberculosis/diagnosis , Male , Mass Screening/methods , Middle Aged , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/immunology , Population Surveillance/methods , Prevalence , Reproducibility of Results , Risk Assessment , Risk Factors , Tuberculin Test/methods , Tuberculosis/epidemiology , Tuberculosis/immunology , Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/diagnosisABSTRACT
In times of economic crisis and a national healthcare system that absorbs more than 7% of the gross domestic product, there is a need to "rethink" healthcare practice. EHealth is part of this process of improving accessibility to services, use of available resources and coordination of program choices, and is an indispensable tool for implementing this cultural and management revolution. How realistic is it, today, to think of implementing a digitalized healthcare practice network? To settle this question is essential for today's national healthcare system.
ABSTRACT
The susceptibility to Hepatitis A virus infection is growing among the European population and many hepatitis outbreaks have been described in 2004-2008. The change in epidemiological characteristics observed in the last decades has to be taken in account in issuing specific recommendations about the use of the vaccine in pre and post exposure prophylaxis.
Subject(s)
Hepatitis A/epidemiology , Hepatitis A/prevention & control , Europe/epidemiology , HumansABSTRACT
Measles elimination is an important target for Public Health. Data on measles epidemiology in Italy are presented for years 2005-2008, after National Measles Elimination Plan was launched in 2003. In 2005 less than 300 case were notified but since 2006 outbreaks were detected in many Italian Regions. Even if vaccine coverage improved in last year, it did not reach the value necessary for elimination and there is the need to improve vaccination coverage and to implement effective infection control practices.
