[Pilot study on compulsory vaccination coverage]. / Studio pilota sulle coperture vaccinali obbligatorie.

The disappearance of diphtheria and poliomyelitis is the best evidence of the efficacy of the vaccination strategies adopted in Italy. The active offer of the prophylaxis, reinforced by law, has characterised the operational aspects of the strategy. The active surveillance system is the main tool to take under control the effectiveness of health services responsible for vaccination. This system could be more easily implemented if the health services will be given a specific software aiming to handle and evaluate vaccination registers. The present pilot study, performed in the regions Marche and Sardegna, is an example of active surveillance and it is based on the ARVA software produced by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità. The results show a good level of coverage (> 95%) within the second year of life. Unsatisfactory results were obtained on the timing of vaccinations, as recommended by the vaccination schedule, mostly for the third doses.

Recurrence of Pelecypod-associated cholera in Sardinia.

From Oct. 30 to Nov. 7, 1979, 10 people in the Sardinian province of Cagliari had onset of bacteriologically confirmed cholera. Two symptom-free excretors of Vibrio cholerae O:1 were detected in household contacts of the patients. There were no deaths. All but 1 of the 12 people with V. cholerae O:1 infection gave a history of recent consumption of marine bivalves known locally as arselle (pelecypods). Triplicate matched neighbourhood controls for each of the first 7 cases identified were also interviewed; none had recently eaten arselle. V. cholerae O:1 was also recovered from samples of water and bivalves obtained from a lagoon on the outskirts of the city of Cagliari. Arselle had also been implicated as the vehicle of transmission in 1973 in the last outbreak of cholera in Sardinia. It seems unlikely that cholera transmission had persisted locally in the interim.