[The management of confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection in schools: the experience of the prevention Department of the Azienda Sanitaria Friuli occidentale in the Pordenone area]. / L'attività del Dipartimento di prevenzione ASFO nella gestione dei casi confermati di Covid-19 nelle scuole del territorio pordenonese.

The SARS-Cov-2 pandemic that exploded in 2020 resulted in an exceptional school closure involving at least 188 countries worldwide, leaving more than 90% of children at home. This event excluded children and teenagers from the opportunity to learn, socialize, experiment and increased early school leaving. In light of these premises, during the summer months of 2020 the Azienda sanitaria Friuli Occidentale (AsFO) decided to set up a working group to accompany schools in the prevention and containment of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection in the course of the school year 2020-21, with the aim of guaranteeing the right to study and favoring teaching activities in presence in the highest conditions of health and safety. The school reality of the Pordenone area is made up of 40 Comprehensive Institutes for a total of about 206 school complexes of all levels (public, equal and private). In total, the local school population is about 33,000 pupils and 4,000 units of school staff (teachers, ATA, etc ...). The activities of the Schools Group were analyzed by monitoring all interventions with carrying out rapid antigen tests at school and by assessing the incidence of infections within schools. From September 2020 to June 2021, the AsFO Schools Group participated in about 35 teaching colleges and more than 10 dedicated meetings with the families of school pupils of all levels. In total, 170 interventions with rapid antigen tests were carried out at school, involving all the schools in the Pordenone area and a total of 206 classes. During the interventions at school, a total of 6,370 rapid antigen tests were carried out, of which 70% concerned pupils (4,458 total tests) and 30% concerned school staff (1,912 total tests). The antigen tests carried out at school found 173 total positivity (equal to 3% of all tests carried out at school). Out of 173 positives found, 121 are students (70% of the total) and 52 are school staff (30% of the total). During the observation period, the results of the interventions with rapid antigen tests carried out at school led to the continuation of the teaching activity in the presence (with respect to the hygiene and behavioral measures defined by the DP) in 69% of cases (118 interventions). In 9% of cases (15 interventions) the "cross" quarantine was carried out, while in 17% of cases (29 interventions) the quarantine was established for the entire class / section. In 7 circumstances, following the intervention at school, quarantine was established for several classes. Only in 4 circumstances was the institution of quarantine for all school staff, a situation that led to the interruption of all educational activities for the quarantine period.

Microbiological surveillance of plasmid mediated colistin resistance in human Enterobacteriaceae isolates in Romagna (Northern Italy): August 2016-July 2017.

OBJECTIVES: To start a surveillance program to investigate the possible diffusion of mobilized colistin resistance genes in Enterobacteriaceae strains isolated in the Unit of Microbiology of the Great Romagna Hub Laboratory. METHODS: All the colistin resistant Enterobacteriaceae, isolated from August 1st 2016 to July 31st 2017, were prospectively evaluated for mcr-1 and mcr-2. Backdated survey of mcr-3, mcr-4 and mcr-5 was performed on the same group of isolates. Species identification was achieved by Vitek MS and the antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed both with Vitek-2 and Sensititre systems. Colistin resistant isolates were screened by PCR for the presence of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance genes and amplicons were verified by sequencing. All mcr-1 positive isolates were subjected to MLST analysis. RESULTS: Over the total of 19053 isolates belonging to Enterobacteriaceae, 90 were colistin resistant. The presence of mcr-1 was detected in 26 Escherichia coli. The overall prevalence of mcr-1 was 0.14%. The mcr-1 positive E. coli strains were assigned to 13 distinct sequence types (STs) according to MLST. CONCLUSIONS: The prospective epidemiological survey carried out in our study gave a glimpse of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance dissemination in Romagna. Since the prevalence rate of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) in some hospital wards in our area is alarming, we underline the importance of a Surveillance Program to monitor the spread of the plasmid-mediated colistin resistance genes into MDR Gram-negative bacteria.

[Cow's milk protein intolerance: evaluation of immunological markers. A preliminary study]. / Intolleranza alle proteine del latte vaccino: valutazione di alcuni marcatori immunologici. Studio preliminare.

Cow's milk protein intolerance (CMPI) is recognised as an important cause of protean symptoms in infants. There are no tests with enough specificity and sensibility to set up a diagnostic assay. We carried out preliminary study on children suffering from CMPI with the following aims: a) to ascertain the importance of the variation in circulating antibodies to cow's milk proteins in CMPI, b) to establish a useful screening tool to diagnose CMPI. Seventy-four subjects (s.) were studied and divided into four diagnostic groups as follows: Six s. (3 M, 3 F) suffering from CMPI mean age 4.8 +/- 3.9 months, assuming a diet containing cow's milk: I group. Eleven s. (O M, 7 F) suffering from CMPI mean age 7.8 +/- 4.6 months, assuming a cow's milk free diet, for several months (mean 4.5 +/- 1.5): II group. Nine s. (5 M, 4 F) suffering from enteropathies not cow's milk correlated, mean age 18.5 +/- 10.6 months, assuming a diet containing cow's milk: III group. Fourty-eight healthy s. (24 M, 24 F), mean age 10.5 +/- 4.3 months, assuming a diet containing cow's milk.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)