GENOA – Six cases of measles in Liguria in recent days have attracted the attention of the Ligurian regional health system which has set up an extraordinary vaccination campaign on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa with free and direct access. This is what was announced during the weekly press point on regional healthcare. Also at the center of the meeting was the growing number of young blood donors (+15%) and the so-called “carnivorous” streptococcus pylogenesis with one death in San Martino.
“The one of Today it is an opportunity to take stock of the waiting lists, an aspect that we keep under constant monitoring – declares the president of the Liguria Region Giovanni Toti – Obviously we cannot expect such a complex issue to be resolved in a few days, but above all as far as it concerns mammograms, ultrasounds and even in the field of magnetic resonance imaging – which is the most complex sector given the increase in prescriptions, and on which we are doing work to verify the appropriateness of the requests – the steps forward have nevertheless been very significant. Looking at the booking system you can see that the waiting times for the most urgent services are now in the order of 7 – 10 days. Now the tenders for the clinical part are also ready to start, starting with cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology, and then continuing with prosthetic orthopedics, general surgery and rehabilitation, which will be published in stages from now until the first few days on June. Another interesting data comes from blood and plasma donations which in the past, as happened throughout Italy, had been in difficulty in some periods of the year – continues President Toti – The collection is growing and last summer there were no shortages : a tangible sign of the fact that the awareness and communication activities in the health field carried out by the Region, which some have defined as useless, are bearing fruit”.
SIX CASES OF MEASLES IN LIGURIA: ACTIONS TO INCREASE VACCINATIONS
After years in which the virus has practically not circulated, in recent weeks cases of measles have been recorded in Liguria which have attracted the attention of the regional health system. There are five measles virus infections confirmed in Genoa at the Regional Reference Laboratory for Public Health Emergencies (LaRESP), IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino. A sixth case, awaiting laboratory confirmation, has been reported in the ASL1 area. They are four males and one female aged between 30 and 50, three of Italian nationality and two foreigners. The case reported in the Imperia area is that of an eight-year-old child.
One of the patients returned with symptoms from a trip abroad, four patients residing in the ASL3 area showed no epidemiological links. Two of them are hospitalized at the Infectious Diseases Unit of the Galliera Hospital, three at the Infectious Diseases Unit of the IRCCS Policlinico San Martino Hospital. Common symptoms for all: fever, conjunctivitis, cough (with airway involvement), morbilliform rash. One of the patients was vaccinated with a single dose, four patients were not vaccinated.
“Measles – explains Health Councilor Angelo Gratarola – is a very contagious infectious disease that appeared in the form of an epidemic at regular intervals: the most serious complications, although rare from a percentage point of view, were still numerous. Forty years ago, measles vaccination was introduced and recommended worldwide. Coverage has increased over time, but there are still significant shares of the unprotected population. For this reason, after the recorded cases of contagion, we decided to implement actions to increase vaccination coverage, with the strengthening of recovery activities for unvaccinated subjects, with the involvement of the University of Genoa and the launch of information campaigns ”.
“We now have – adds the general director of Alisa Filippo Ansaldi – a dual objective: on the one hand to increase vaccination coverage in adolescents and young adults with dedicated initiatives, on the other to increase it in subjects of all ages, with particular attention to operators health and education, identifying specific actions. In addition to letters and phone calls from the local health authorities for children and adolescents of compulsory vaccination age and the guaranteed offer in the presence of measles outbreaks and on occasions of contact with public hygiene structures, we are implementing other actions: in particular in the month of Aprilin collaboration with the University of Genoa, days dedicated to the vaccination offer will be organized with direct access for vaccination against measles”.
“We have started to positively test the ImmUniGe project – explains the Director of the complex hygiene operational unit at the Policlinico San Martino hospital and full professor of hygiene at the University of Genoa Giancarlo Icardi – with 50 people vaccinated against HPV one week after the launch of the initiative on campus university of Savona. Additional activities with direct access have proven effectiveness. To increase coverage against measles, we have therefore decided to activate the extraordinary opening of the vaccination clinic in Pavilion 3 of the San Martino Polyclinic: on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 16.30 it will therefore be possible to get vaccinated against measles with free and direct access”.
“We presented the data from a surveillance that we decided to start as an inter-company department of Infectious Diseases regarding streptococcus pyogenes infections which are affecting not only Japan but also other parts of the world and which can be very serious – explains the director of the infectious diseases clinic of the San Martino hospital in Genoa Matteo Bassetti – In 2023 and in the first months of 2024 we had 57 serious infections from streptococcus pyogenes in Liguria, with unfortunately 8 deaths and 4 forms of the so-called toxic prox syndrome, which is which is incorrectly described as flesh-eating streptococcus. We began, among the first in Italy, to collect data last week, and for this I want to thank the infectious disease centers in Liguria who are working with us. In addition to this – adds Bassetti – we presented an update on measles: 5 cases were reported in the city of Genoa last week. At the moment no further cases have been reported, but it is important to give general recommendations, particularly for those who have never contracted the disease or received the vaccine. In the age group between 15 and 40 it is important to receive the vaccination, because it can be a very complicated disease if it contacts in adulthood”.
BLOOD DONATION: YOUNG DONORS INCREASING, COLLECTION GROWING IN 2023
The final data on the collection of blood and plasma in Liguria, coordinated by the Regional Blood Centre, shows positive and encouraging data: the number of young people who have approached donating has grown by 15%, those who have donated for the first time. Blood collection remained substantially stable, while plasma collection increased (+4.7%).
“The data for 2023 – states the manager of the Regional Blood Center and coordinator of the regional inter-company Department of Transfusion Medicine Vanessa Agostini – are good: we have confirmed the self-sufficiency of Liguria and we have not had shortage situations during the summer: in particular the collection of blood and plasma went well in the first summer months and certainly the campaign which reached almost one and a half million views on the social channels of the Liguria Region helped us. Another positive trend is that relating to young people who have approached donating and that of those who have come to donate for the first time. We still have to work so as not to lose them, because many move away after the first donation. The data are comforting, but we need to continue in this direction and re-launch appeals, in particular for the upcoming holiday periods, such as the long weekends of April. In addition to blood and plasma, it is important to increase the collection of platelets which are needed for all hematological patients and for patients taking anti-aggregating drugs”.
