Ricerc@Sapienza

Objectives: A retrospective study describing syphilis epidemiological and clinical features in patients referring to an infectious diseases centre in Rome, Italy.
Methods: Between January 2011 and December 2015 demographic, behavioral and clinical data were collected from all adult patients attending the Sexual Transmitted Disease Centre of the Teaching Hospital Umberto I in Rome.

BACKGROUND:

We evaluated the trend of four years (2015 - 2018) of "alert organisms" surveillance carried out at the 450 bed teaching hospital S. Andrea in Rome.
METHODS:

All patients with an "Alert organism" isolation were screened. In accordance with definitions used by the Centers for Disease Control patients with an "alert organism" isolation were evaluated for infection or colonization, by an infection control team (ICT).
RESULTS:

Recent studies describing the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in pools of 5 to 32 samples reported false negative rates up to 10% for large groups, suggesting that smaller
sample pools are a good compromise to increase sample processing capacity while maintaining test reliability. Since 5-sample pools were shown to efficiently detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in RT-PCR
assays, we chose to test and validate this approach using a highthroughput RNA extraction and amplification platform.

Health care workers (HCW) are particularly at risk of acquiring tuberculosis (TB), even in countries with low TB incidence. Therefore, TB screening in HCW is a useful prevention strategy in countries with both low and high TB incidence. Tuberculin skin test (TST) is widely used although it suffers of low specificity; on the contrary, the in vitro enzyme immunoassay tests (IGRA) show superior specificity and sensitivity but are more expensive.

There is still no consensus on the follow-up frequency and regimen after curative resection for gastric cancer. Moreover, controversy exists regarding the utility of follow-up in improving survival, and the recommendations of experts and societies vary considerably. The main reason to establish surveillance programs is to diagnose tumor recurrence or metachronous cancers early and to thereby provide prompt treatment and prolong survival.

We conducted a scoping review of literature to improve our understanding of the accuracy of infectious disease monitoring in migrants in the Europe. We searched PubMed for papers relevant to the topic including: case reports, observational and experimental studies, reviews, guidelines or policy documents; published after 1994. We identified 532 papers, 27 of which were included in the review. Legislation and right to access health care influence both the accuracy of rates and risk measures under estimating the at risk population, i.e., the denominator.

Background. Nosocomial water systems may be contaminated by Legionella spp; therefore, health care facilities represent a potential health risk for patients and health care staff. Active, well-planned clinical and environmental surveillance in hospitals is the most important instrument of prevention. Aim and Methods. The aim of the present article was to outline the state of the art in legionellosis control and prevention among Italian health care facilities by reporting some experiences in the field. Results. Our results showed that Legionella spp.

BACKGROUND: The increasing antimicrobial resistance poses a challenge for surveillance systems and raises concerns about the impact of multidrug-resistant organisms on patient safety. OBJECTIVE: To estimate extra hospital stay and economic burden of infections due to alert organisms - mostly multidrug-resistant - in a teaching hospital. METHODS: The present retrospective matched cohort study was conducted through the analysis of hospital admissions at Sant'Andrea Teaching Hospital in Rome from April to December 2015.

Background: Atrophic gastritis (AG) is at increased risk of gastric neoplasia, thus surveillance gastroscopy
has been proposed.
Aims: To assess cost of detecting gastric neoplasias by surveillance endoscopy according to identified risk
factors in Italy.
Methods: Post-hoc analysis of a cohort study including 200 AG-patients from Italy followed up for a mean
of 7.5 (4–23.4) years was done. Considered risk factors were: age >50 years, extensive atrophy, pernicious

Introduction: Surveillance programs on high-risk individuals (HRIs) can detect pre-malignant lesions or early pancreatic cancer (PC). We report the results of the first screening round of the Italian multicenter program supported by the Italian Association for the study of the Pancreas (AISP). Methods: The multicenter surveillance program included asymptomatic HRIs with familial (FPC) or genetic frailty (GS: BRCA1/2, p16/CDKN2A, STK11/LKB1or PRSS1, mutated genes) predisposition to PC. The surveillance program included at least an annual magnetic resonance cholangio pancreatography (MRCP).