Chagas disease in Italy: breaking an epidemiological silence.
نویسندگان
چکیده
Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease that due to population movements is no longer limited to Latin America, threatens a wide spectrum of people(travellers, migrants, blood or organ recipients,newborns, adoptees) also in non-endemic countries where it is generally underdiagnosed. In Italy, the available epidemiological data about Chagas disease have been very limited up to now, although the country is second in Europe only to Spain in the number of residents from Latin American. Among 867 at-risk subjectsscreened between 1998 and 2010, the Centre for Tropical Diseases in Negrar (Verona) and the Infectious and Tropical Diseases Unit, University of Florence found 4.2% patients with positive serology for Chagas disease (83.4% of them migrants, 13.8% adoptees).No cases of Chagas disease were identified in blood donors or HIV-positive patients of Latin American origin. Among 214 Latin American pregnant women,three were infected (resulting in abortion in one case).In 2005 a case of acute Chagas disease was recorded in an Italian traveller. Based on our observations, we believe that a wider assessment of the epidemiological situation is urgently required in our country and public health measures preventing transmission and improving access to diagnosis and treatment should be implemented.
منابع مشابه
Elimination of Chagas disease transmission: perspectives.
One hundred years after its discovery by Carlos Chagas, American trypanosomiasis, or Chagas disease, remains an epidemiologic challenge. Neither a vaccine nor an ideal specific treatment is available for most chronic cases. Therefore, the current strategy for countering Chagas disease consists of preventive actions against the vector and transfusion-transmitted disease. Here, the present challe...
متن کاملCurrent situation and perspectives regarding human Chagas disease in midwestern of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Recognising the importance of Chagas disease in Brazil, Bambuí set up epidemiological surveillance for Chagas disease in 1974 and was the first municipality to do so. To ascertain the current epidemiology of Chagas disease in this municipality, 1.782 blood samples from the general population were analysed; 7.7% of samples were found to be seropositive for Chagas disease. A strong positive corre...
متن کاملIn vitro Anti-epimastigote Activity of some Iranian Medicinal Plants
Some medicinal plants are a potential source of new drugs, in order to improve the treatment of Chagas disease whose treatment is still a challenge. In this study, the in vitro anti-epimastigote activity of certain fractions of Achillea biebersteinii, A. millefolium, Satureja mutica and S. macrantha was evaluated. Diethyl ether fractions of Achillea species and acetone fractions of Satureja spe...
متن کاملMortality Related to Chagas Disease and HIV/AIDS Coinfection in Brazil
Chagas disease in patients with HIV infection represents a potentially serious event with high case fatality rates. This study describes epidemiological and clinical aspects of deaths related to Chagas disease and HIV/AIDS coinfection in Brazil, 1999-2007. We performed a descriptive study based on mortality data from the nationwide Mortality Information System. Of a total of about 9 million dea...
متن کاملAndean subregional Chagas disease area and the Andean initiative of Chagas disease.
The Andean subregional Chagas disease area and the Andean initiative of Chagas disease consist of the association of Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela with their own and particular characteristics: 1. extensive area distributed in a broad latitude; 2. important echo-biological diversity; 3. biogeographically variables due to diverse altitude and latitude; 4. different epidemiological situa...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin
دوره 16 37 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2011