Survey of diagnostic and typing capacity for enterovirus infection in Italy and identification of two echovirus 30 outbreaks.

Background: Enterovirus infections can cause a variety of illnesses, ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe illness and death.

Aim: To support polio eradication activities, in February 2019, the WHO Regional Reference Laboratory for polio in Italy, at the National Institute of Public Health (Istituto Superiore di Sanità), promoted an investigation on non-polio enterovirus laboratory capacity, with the support of the Italian Ministry of Health. The aim was to collect data on the assays used routinely for diagnostic purposes and to characterize enterovirus outbreaks strains by sequence analysis of the Viral Protein 1 region.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection: Role of the setting of catheter insertion.

Background: This study aimed to describe the epidemiology of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) in patients admitted to a surgical ward in Central Italy and to analyze the associated risk factors.

Methods: An active surveillance program for CAUTI was carried out in patients catheterized for at least 48 hours. Place of catheter insertion (operating room, hospital ward, cystoscopy room, emergency care unit), indication for catheterization and its duration, among other risk factors were monitored until discharge.